Tony Khan finally explains why he doesn’t promote IMPACT shows or PPVs on AEW programming.
Impact Wrestling: Rebellion is happening this weekend with the AEW World Champion Kenny Omega facing off with the IMPACT World Champion, Rich Swann, in a title vs title match. With AEW’s number one guy possibly coming home with the IMPACT World Championship or potentially losing his own, one would think that we would hear AEW promoting the match.
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AEW and Tony Khan haven’t done anything to spread awareness of this upcoming match or event on AEW programming. This could be an opportunity to get AEW fans to watch IMPACT and increase the fanbase for IMPACT and increase the PPV buys for Rebellion. However, AEW hasn’t done anything to spread awareness of the match. This has perplexed AEW, IMPACT, and wrestling fans in general.
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Khan was on Busted Open Radio this past week and answered why the relationship between AEW and IMPACT has been so weird at times.
“Kenny will be challenging for the Impact title this weekend. People have asked me why I haven’t gone out and spent a lot of money on promoting [Rebellion]. It’s when I’ve gone to your guys’ show to promote my cards, I’ve had to pay and buy ads. It’s kind of on [IMPACT]. But here’s a little free ad from me, Kenny Omega is coming up this weekend to IMPACT Wrestling. He’s going to be wrestling for the world title. It’s possible Rich Swann could be the AEW World Champion next week. It’s also quite possible Kenny Omega will be the IMPACT Champion, the AAA Champion and, of course, the AEW Champion. But we shall see next week,” Khan said.
Why Wouldn’t IMPACT Wrestlers Be On AEW?
Tony Khan’s quote is really confusing. It could be AEW not wanting to promote a rival promotion and keeping it kayfabe. However, this also implies that IMPACT isn’t sending guys over to be on AEW programming.
AEW has sent numerous wrestlers to appear on IMPACT, but aside from The Good Brothers and Don Callis no one from IMPACT has appeared on AEW. There’s a very real possibility that Swann wins the AEW World Championship and appears on Dynamite and no one has any idea who the hell he is and how he got the AEW World Championship.
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However, an even worse possibility is AEW fans don’t see Swann or the championship until he loses it. Fans will have no idea what happened to the championship and why AEW doesn’t have a world title anymore. If the trend of IMPACT not appearing on AEW TV continues then that is a strong possibility.
A One-Way Partnership
The whole point of partnering with IMPACT was for AEW and IMPACT to boost each other’s ratings and it isn’t happening, but it isn’t exactly clear why it has been a one-way deal. I can’t think of any good reason why IMPACT wouldn’t want their wrestlers to appear on AEW. The only thing I could think of is AEW is blocking them, but I don’t understand why they would do that. This may just be another wrestling mystery and a partnership that may never happen again.
Will you be watching Impact Wrestling: Rebellion this Sunday at 8p.m. EST? Who do you think will win, Omega or Swann? What do you think is the reason for IMPACT wrestlers not appearing on AEW? What do you think of what Tony Khan had to say? Be a beautiful swan like I know you are and leave some comments below or over on Twitter.
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Sources: ProWrestling, Comic Book, Busted Open Radio
