Tony Khan comments on fan reception.
In recent months, some fans have been vocal about their opinion on the Death Riders in AEW, even prompting some to say that the faction is ruining AEW's entire product as a whole.
That backlash has seemingly died down in recent weeks, as some fans believe that Swerve Strickland could take the AEW World Championship from Jon Moxley at AEW Dynasty.
On the AEW Dynasty media call, our own Sean Ross Sapp asked Tony Khan was asked about negative fan reaction and how he weighs it when it comes to his booking decisions.
"Fan feedback is very important. Probably the most consistent fan feedback we get week to week is in the form of hearing directly from the fans, commentors, absolutely, but also the data we get from Nielsen in the ratings. It’s a great indicator of the TV audience, which doesn’t necessarily verbalize every opinion but their viewership patterns can speak volumes and it’s a really interesting thing to keep an eye on because whether it’s social media, TV viewership, another of other business metrics, I think there are a lot of ways to track engagement but also, we’re all human beings and sentiment and nuance are a big part of this. Staying in touch with the fans is important and also realizing there are a lot of fan opinions that are shared and a lot of fan opinions that are polarizing. To me, viewership data can be very powerful when it comes to trying to interpret what’s happening, who is being well-received. It doesn’t always mean somebody is the most popular wrestler, but it does tend to generate good data when it comes to interest level around a certain wrestler and how that interest level changes. Certainly, for AEW, we do track the popularity of the wrestlers and engagement around the wrestlers. Those are not always directly correlated. Sometimes, wrestlers who don’t get the best reactions from the fans can move the needle in a major way. It’s something to balance, but we do take great pride in fan feedback but also trying to put on the best show for the fans and listening to the fans. I do think our fans have given us great feedback this year. They’ve felt like AEW is delivering great TV and that the pay-per-views have been delivering consistently now on a great run with the focus and the quality of the TV shows in 2025 that make people feel good about the AEW TV product. I feel the sentiment around the product going into Dynasty is maybe the best its been in many years. A lot of things have contributed. The fans at live events have been great. The venues have been great. The wrestlers have been delivering and that’s something we’ve had for years but it’s helped to have some of our top stars come back healthy and have a great collection of star power right now. Kenny Omega returning to AEW is very important and I’m very excited to see Kenny Omega on Sunday. Very excited about how well the shows have been received with the fans recently and very excited about everything happening in AEW right now including the state of the company going into Dynasty, which I think is a real high note and very appreciative of the sentiment of the fans that they feel the company is really delivering and that speaks to the quality of the live fans, live events, the wrestlers and the staff. In particular, I think it speaks to the bodywork. That is really something that, going into Dynasty, I’m so proud of the way the fans have received AEW shows in 2025 and it should be a great Dynasty show and keeping that great run of pay-per-views going."
Elsewhere in the interview, Khan responded to a recent report that touted AEW Dynamite's viewership numbers on Max. Check out his full comments on the report by clicking here.
Fans can check out the current lineup for AEW Dynasty by clicking here. Fightful will have full coverage of the show as it airs.
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