Yahoo News Exclusive: AEW's Tony Khan says All Out will be the most "rewarding" card for the fans
AEW's All Out pay-per-view takes place on Sunday (September 5) and features one of the most anticipated matches in recent years, as CM Punk faces Darby Allin.
But alongside Punk having his first wrestling match in seven years, the All Out card is also stacked with many more huge matches. Kenny Omega will be defending the AEW World Championship, Chris Jericho is putting his career on the line and The Young Bucks will meet the Lucha Bros in a steel cage.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy ahead of All Out, AEW boss Tony Khan spoke about how he put the PPV card together and decided the match order.
"All Out is, I think the biggest card we've ever presented period and it's our biggest Pay-Per-View card and these are some epic matches," Khan said.
"A lot of it was planned very far ahead and there were some changes to the card, of course, but it's been a long time in the making, this card.
"When I'm putting a pay-per-view card together a lot of considerations go into it. In many ways this was the most challenging but then when it came time to put the order down, I didn't find it that way, it was pretty natural, in one path I set it."
He continued: "Pretty much everybody I've told it to and said, 'What do you think of this?' Everyone's said, 'Man, that sounds pretty good, really good.' I think it's going to be great.
Related: Tony Khan says he wants to make Craven Cottage AEW's UK home
"In some ways it's been the most work to put a card together, but I think it will be the most rewarding for the fans and for all of us and in some ways it's been the easiest."
Khan went on to talk about choosing Darby Allin as CM Punk's first opponent and the time that has been spent building him for this spot.
"CM Punk, versus Darby Allin, that was not just a week or two of planning," Khan said.
"That's really a year and a half in the making of talking between myself and Punk and during that year and a half Darby's been working his ass off and becoming a legitimate wrestling star."
Khan pointed to the February 19, 2020 edition of Dynamite when Darby returned from injury as the moment he became one of the company's biggest stars.
"It was an amazing comeback and ever since then Darby's been so hot," Khan said. "Through the pandemic he rose and became a bigger name in wrestling and that was all happening at the same time when CM Punk was contemplating a comeback to the wrestling business and talking it over with me and the timing had to be right and now is the time."
And while the card for All Out is stacked, Khan promised that there's still big things to come, with AEW's Arthur Ashe Stadium show around the corner.
"We have a great roster and it affords me the ability to be able to book a lot of big matches," Khan added. "We have huge matches on Dynamite and there's going to be a great card at Arthur Ashe for Grand Slam."
AEW All Out airs live on Monday, September 6, at 1am on Fite. Catch AEW Dynamite live every Thursday at 1am in the UK and Rampage every Saturday at 3am on FITE with an AEW Plus subscription. US customers can also watch both shows on TNT, and in the UK, Dynamite repeats air on ITV4.
You Might Also Like
