Tony Khan discusses using Guns N' Roses' "November Rain" to promote AEW Full Gear during what has been a memorable November.
AEW has promoted its upcoming AEW Full Gear pay-per-view with a music video set to Guns N' Roses' iconic "November Rain" song. ECW has used this song in the past but Tony Khan is proud to be the first person to use the song with permission from the artist and is now detailing the process of licensing the song.
Speaking to Fightful's Iridian Fierro for WGN Radio, Khan said that Guns N' Roses was great to work with and that they secured the rights to use the song for the music video in perpetuity so that the video can live on forever.
"November Rain has been used in November wrestling pay-per-views decades ago, but never licensed Guns N' Roses, never fairly compensated, and they were great to work with. So we work with a lot of the top musicians and licensing and publishing companies to get the top music in AEW, and then like you said, moments in wrestling are so important. You're so right, and we've been able to create a lot of magic moments, in part because of the great music that we've been fortunate to license."
Continuing on, Tony spoke about how important it was for him to be able to license the song properly, reflecting on ECW's less-than-above-the-board method of doing business.
"Well, to be honest, it has been done. ECW did use 'November Rain' as a promotional vehicle. Illegally, without the permission of the artist, but in this case, we're on TBS and TNT, we gotta do things by the book, and it's also the right thing to do. Guns N' Roses is a great band. They are great to work with if you actually call them and try to work something fair out with them. They were awesome and I was really so pleased we were able to do it. Again, talk about one of those things that will live on and in perpetuity, that video will be able to play. It's not the first time November Rain has been played in association with a wrestling show to promote a major wrestling event in the month of November, but it was the first time we've done it in AEW, and it was the first time it's ever been done by anyone above board, legally, and the right way. I'm really proud of it. It was a great video and it really sets the stage."
Fans can check out the whole music video in the video embedded at the top of this page. Check out the whole card for AEW Full Gear at this link.
Learn more about the workarounds ECW would use to have iconic songs associated with their brand at this link.
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