September 9, 2025 • 22 mins
Tony Khan gets real about moving Taz’s Hall of Fame segment off TV, lessons from All In, and how AEW’s city residencies are changing the game. He also talks Mercedes Moné, Will Ospreay, and adding Bryan Danielson to commentary!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Battleground Podcast dat you'll play for all
things and exclusive interviews with some of your favorite wrestlers
Bound podcast stop What's up you guys?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome back into I heard his official wrestling podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It is the Battleground Podcast. It is Battle.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Alongside my tag team partner Eli, and I gotta tell you,
I was super excited when Jeff Jarrett called in on
the Morning show to let me know that AEW is
making their return to Nashville November twenty six for AW
Dynamite Thanksgiving Eve and Collision Collision Thanksgiving at Nashville's newest venue,
a venue where Sir Paul McCartney is playing just twenty
(00:52):
days before AW gets there, the Pinnacle, and joining us
on the show today is a really good friend of
the show, the.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
President of a w Towny Conjoined and it's not great to.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
See you both.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
I really always love doing these interviews with both of you,
and it's gonna be a great week.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
We have a huge Dynamite Tomorrow night. Wednesday Night.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Dynamite's gonna be massive this week and I'm excited to
talk about AW with both of you guys ahead of
the big Wednesday Night Dynamite show.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Tomorrow, absolutely, and we're very excited to talk about it
with you as well. And one thing I do want
to talk about, because I'm gonna kick things off with
you something that really caught the attention of fans.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Uh recently, you moved.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Taz's Hall of Fame ceremony off TV at his request
so the focus could stay on the AW roster itself.
I gotta say that's a pretty powerful move. What was
that conversation with Taz like and what does that say
about how you're running things inside of AW.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Well, he shot me.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
A text message and said, can we do this off
the air? And for all the reasons he said later
in the video we did together, he said he wanted
to really give the screen time to the wrestlers today
and you know, focus on them and not spend the
TV time on honoring his legendary career, which I was
excited to do, but I understood Taz's perspective and we
(02:12):
ended up having a nice ceremony.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
It's on social media and you can watch it on YouTube.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
But Taz said, hey, Wednesday Night, Dynamite is for the wrestlers.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Taz is the host of the show. He's a legend
in wrestling.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
He's a great commentator, but he said, let's keep the
wrestling show about the wrestlers today and my retirement, my
great career, celebrating that we can.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Talk about that off the air, and that's.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
More for the people who are in the arena tonight,
because that was in an arena and tomorrow's show also
finishing up a great three week stand in an arena
in Philadelphia now known as the twenty three hundred Arena
where Taz really broke through and became a top star
nationally before he eventually signed and started wrestling on TV
(03:01):
worldwide every week, and going back to Philadelphia where a
lot of the fans love and respect Taz. There were
so many of his fans from the nineties back in
the building. Years later, I myself, as a thirteen year
old kid, had gone to that arena to watch Kaz wrestle.
I'm wearing a big Taz shirt in the videos. I
(03:23):
was a chunky kid, so the shirt then is too
big for me now that I was scaring on thirteen.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
But I loved going back to the building.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
I hadn't been there since I was thirteen years old,
and it's even more special to go back for AW
and to have Taz be a part of our team,
it's really cool.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
So that was very selfless by Taz. I was happy
to honor his request, and I'm.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Very excited about AW Wednesday Night Dynamite Tomorrow night. Of
course Taz hosting the show. It's our final week of
this great stretch of shows we've done in Philadelphia.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Coming off maybe the best one yet.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
I thought Saturday's Collision was one of the best shows
of the entire year, start to finish, really a perfect
wrestling show top to bottom. I felt like, So it's
a great way to go into Wednesday Night Dynamite with
all this momentum, and we just had this great celebration
for Taz, one of our legends, and it feels like
we're going to have a really great show tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
The lineup is just incredible.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
I think, just a really strong lineup of matches for
tomorrow Night's Wednesday Night AW Dynamite show.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
Yeah, coming off Collision, I thought the FTR Priest Billington
match was really solid. It was a very solid tag
team match this week. You know, speaking of keeping the
spotlight on the roster, you know, we're not too far
removed from All In Texas, huge record breaking event right
around the corner from Toronto. You've said the creative has
really been on another level since late last year. Were
(04:57):
there any specific lessons you learned coming out of All
In Texas that you're going to carry into All Out?
Maybe some logistical things or just storyline things. I mean,
is there anything from the big show this summer you're
carrying into the fall.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I think we had a tremendous show. I think the
momentum is continuing.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Certainly.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
We had our great champions coming out of that show,
with Hangman Page winning the AW World Championship, with Timeless
Tony Storm winning the AW Women's World Championship. Both of
them are on fire and they're both going to have
top competition going into All Out. Both of them at
(05:34):
All Ends stood top the wrestling world and really had
these incredible, incredible matches for each of them, just a
perfect way to celebrate their championship reigns. I think right
now the roster is just so strong. We've got so
many great wrestlers in AW. There's some really really hot
(05:54):
rivalries on the show right now. We've been out some
big matches going into to All Out. That's certainly looking
back at all In our rivalries that have been developing
for a long time. I'm in particular really excited about
John Moxley versus Darby Allen in a coffin match, and
(06:14):
you mentioned FTR. I'm also very excited about FTR versus
Adam Copland and Christian Cage looking back at all In.
As you mentioned, these are a couple of the matches
on All Out that really have been cooking and building
and eating up and developing, and certainly All In you
could feel maybe that these matches were coming and looking
(06:37):
ard All Out. So I'm really excited for the All
Out pay per view. It's available on HBO Max. It
would be the first time we've ever sold a pay
per view on HBO Max.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
You can also get it on your.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Cable and satellite as you probably bought wrestling pay per
views for years.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Your TV still has.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Them, and you can get them on Amazon, Prime, YouTube,
a lot of great carriers. But we're especially excited right
now about being on HBO Max for the first time
ever with pay per view, and it's going to be
a really great show, and that is another major change
going into All Out. As you mentioned there, and I
(07:16):
think from a wrestling perspective, things are really strong. We've
been putting on great shows. The show just this past
weekend you mentioned FTR versus Prieston Billington was a great,
great match.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I thought it excellent.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
I really thought everything top to bottom on that show
was excellent, which makes it such a strong all round episode.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Of Collision that we just did.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
When you have John Moxley versus Daniel Garcia, that was
a tremendous match as well. The eight woman tag match
was fantastic with Meghan bain Tecla, Julie Hart and Sky
Blue taking on timeless Tony Storm, the world champion, Mina, Shirrikawa,
Harley and Statlander as a tag team.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
That was a great, great match in the aftermath definitely.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Set up a very interesting situation going into all out
and of course what a man event. Mark Briscoe versus
Takeshia and the big twist at the end, the man
whose wedding I had attended just hours earlier, he came
down to Philadelphia. He skipped his own honeymoon to cost
Mark Briscoe that T and T Championship match. That is
(08:26):
truly generational hating from him, yes, and he is absolutely
he fits that billing and there is no love lost
between Mark Briscoe and MJF. That is a real rivalry,
that is a very personal situation. There were some wrestlers
that were able to put their differences aside out of
(08:49):
respect for Max's wife, Alicia, who is lovely, who is
a big part of our backstage team. She's a great interviewer,
a great host in wrestling. Alicia, Alicia too, Friedman Now
and a lot of the wrestlers who are fan favorites
were able to put those differences aside and come to
the wedding. And you know, then you had Mark Briscoe.
(09:10):
I think he's wisely took the high road and said, okay,
well at least it's great, but I don't want to
be in a room with Max. And at the end,
Max really really came out there and stabbed Risco in
the back and also cost him a big championship match.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
And I know Max felt like it was a measure
of revenge for him. I really felt like to me, I.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Even if it wasn't exactly the kind of ending you'd
want after a great, great wrestling match with Takesha and
Mark Briscoe.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
He did make a lot.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Of sense for Max to take his opening there, I
have to admit, and I felt like this was one
of our best episodes that aw start to finish. I
thought start to Finish, top to bottom, very segment on
the show was excellent and I really really enjoyed it.
And I think that venue the fans just brings so
much great energy and the crew of wrestlers we have
(10:10):
on Saturday were phenomenal, and also this collision really set
the stage for some big, big matches tomorrow night on
Wednesday Night, Dynamite, Big matches like Timeless Tony Storm taking
on Sky Blue. After that wild brawl and a couple
of wild brawls in recent weeks with Tony Storm and
Triangle of Madness, We're gonna get a Philly street fight
(10:32):
Guy Blue versus Timeless Tony Storm, and that's coming up
tomorrow night on Wednesday Night, Dynamite. Timeless Tony Storm is
one of the greatest wrestlers in the world, but she
better watch out in a Philly street fight because Sky
Blue is somebody who was setting man on the fire.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah correct, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Mercedes Monet just defended her title against Alec Windsor or
Alex Windsor Windsor with Osprey's name getting pulled into the max.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
It had a lot of people online talking about it.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Do you see stories like that as the key to
taking the women's division to the next level when it's
the real lives.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
At a great level and having the best year we've
ever had. The wrestling is outstanding top to bottom, and
we've got a couple of great matches featuring stars of
the women's division tomorrow night.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
On Wednesday Night Dynamite, you know, we.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Mentioned timeless Tony Storm having that huge Philly street.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Fight with Sky Blue.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
I'm also really really excited about having Mercedes Monet the
TBS champion. As you mentioned Alex Windsor, they had a fantastic.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Match on Wednesday Night Dynamite, just outstanding.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
I really really liked the match and the aftermath, of course,
led to the return of the original eight of you
Women's World Champion Rio.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
And when you have Rio, who is somebody that.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
I have so much respect for her, Somebody I think
is just one of the top top wrestlers, Somebody that
I really think has the talent to be the face
of TBS, Somebody who's represented us as a world champion,
an outstanding star. She is a perfect challenger for Mercedes
Mone for the TVs Championship.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
At all out.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
And also, you have really, in my opinion, some of
the top top top wrestlers in the world buying for
Mercedes Mone Championship. And what a great team you'd have
with Rio and Alex Windsor teaming up against Mercedes Mone.
(12:43):
And Mercedes Mone has gone and pulled a name out
of Rio's pass one of the great stars, somebody from
the early years of ADW and somebody else I'm also
excited to have back, and that's Emmy Soccer, Rio's teacher
with thirty years of experience and somebody that really may
(13:03):
have taught Rio everything she knows. So I think that's
a great, great matchup. To have Mercedes teaming with Soccer
versus Rio and Alex Windsor in a tag match tomorrow
night should be a great, great match and will give
us a really valuable perspective going into what should be
a great, great week of TV.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
Yeah, and seeing the Queen and the CEO Tech team
together should be a very good sight to see.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
In the ring.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
So let's kind of pivot a little bit you know,
staying on the focus of talent this year. You know,
one of your big breakaway talents this year has been
Harley Cameron. She is, you know, if we're kind of
taking a page out of Anthony Bowen's book The five
you know, five stage player, five tool player there.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I mean, she seems like she can do everything.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
What is it like to have a valuable tool like
that on the on the team that she can wrestle,
she can talk, she can sing, she I mean, it
seems like she can literally do anything you throw at her.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Vin trilli Quist, by the way, Yes, she's a.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Great, great talent. Absolutely, We're really lucky to have Harley
Cameron in AW. She's an incredibly valuable wrestler and somebody
that brings a lot of different.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Skills to AW. You're totally totally right about that.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
I'm really really excited about having Harley Cameron competing in
AW but also all the things she brings to the
locker room. She's one of the most respected people. She's
worked so hard. She hasn't been wrestling that long, and
it's amazing she's gotten very, very good in the ring.
But she has so many talents outside the ring too.
And it's like Harley can do almost anything. So I'm
(14:39):
a big, big fan of Harley Cameron, and I think
she brings a really really valuable perspective to AW. And
also somebody that represents AW really well outside and can
give fans an interesting perspective on AW, somebody that might
be very different than what they had imagined a pro
wrestler would be.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
Like absolutely another quick question. This has got a lot
of us nerds very very happy the announcement Bran Danielson
will be a permanent addition to the announcing table moving forward.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Well, you know what brought you to that decision?
Speaker 5 (15:12):
Was that something you'd been planning in the background or
was it just kind of a natural flow and it
just happened, Like did you kind of bring us up
to speed on that decision?
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Sure, As we were preparing for Forbidden Door, I thought
Brian would be fantastic on the commentary team for that show,
Knowing the background he has, knowing his insights into pro
wrestling and how prepared he is and how much research
he does on pro wrestling worldwide, Knowing the stars competing
(15:41):
at Forbidden Door coming from different promotions, stars from Mexico
and Japan and traveling from all over the world to
compete at that show in London. Also, I think Brian's
a great star and people want to see Brian Danielson
on television and here Brian Danielson on television, and thankfully
he's got very intelligent, insightful things when he does talk.
(16:01):
So I really thought Brian would be a great part
of the commentary team, and he did a fantastic job
on Forbidden Door. So I had talked to him maybe
after his promotional tour of Australia was complete about Brian
joining us on Wednesday, and it worked out perfect and
he'll be joining us tomorrow night on Wednesday Night Dynamite
(16:24):
as a host a commentator providing his really really valuable.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Insights into pro wrestling.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
I think it's great anytime we're able to bring on
Brian Danielson to do anything in aw but especially to
provide very very intelligent and cycle commentary on pro wrestling.
That's a great thing in aew that we have now
with Brian Danielson as a host on Wednesday Night Dynamite
starting tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Absolutely for sure.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I know your time is very preciouscause you got to
get some other things. Especially with the NFL season going on,
you got more or AW stuff going on.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
I had so much time for you, Tim, I want
to be here on the battleground.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Well we do.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
We do appreciate that, Tony, But I wanted to ask
you from a business side.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
AW has been doing something really cool lately.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
They've been doing residencies the way bands and comedians do.
Can you break down the business side of how all
that comes together? And do you ever worry about, you know,
the crowds getting a little too comfortable or maybe stale
if you're in the same venue multiple times during a run.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Well, I think we've picked great cities for the residencies,
cities like Chicago and Philadelphia where you never get concerned
about the fans quieting down. Were like last year around
Dallas in the Eastports Stadium in Arlington. I think when
you've got great markets like Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington,
when you have great markets like Philadelphia and Chicago, I
(17:47):
don't worry about that as much because I know there's
great AW fans. I know they love wrestling in those
cities and they're gonna keep coming out and being loud
and proud wrestling fans and as long as we deliver
great shows.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I never take it for granted.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
We always have to put on great shows and great matches,
great rivalries. That's what we're doing in AW and I
think eight W is having our best year yet start
to finish, we can pull this thing off. I mean
we're right now in September and since January, I think
we're having so far the best year of wrestling from
January to September we've ever had, and we've accomplished so
(18:25):
many cool things this year, hit new milestones. We did
our biggest crowd ever here in North America for All
in Texas, we set the record for the most wrestling.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Fans ever at the London two Forbidden Door.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Now coming back and going to have a huge, huge
crowd at All Out in Toronto, and our weekly TV
shows most importantly are really good shows. And going back
to just this weekend, it was a great collision. It's
going to be a great Wednesday night Dynamite. I'm really
excited for it. I think it's going to be a great,
great show. And I also think if you look at
(19:04):
the lineup of wrestlers in AW right now and the
quality of the shows that we're putting on. I think
that if we keep this pace up, this will be
our best year and we'll have so much to look
forward to next year. And a huge part of it
has been these crowds supporting us week in week out,
whether it's in a massive arena like the O two
(19:26):
in London or these residencies where we've got these tight
pat crowds, and it comes across with the energy on TV.
I was just watching that collision after the Jaguars win
yesterday and it was a really, really awesome experience to
be able to sit back and watch a show we
had just done the night before and have it feel
(19:48):
so fresh, and have everything clicked so well on the show,
and have it set in motion a great show for
tomorrow for Wednesday night.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Dynamite absolutely well. It's always an honor or privilege to
have you on the show. We're glad that AW is
coming back to Nashville. Of course, watch a w every
week on TBS, T and t, HBO, Max, Amazon, Prime, YouTube,
everywhere that you have a screen you can watch AW.
And you have to watch it every week because if
you miss something, you're gonna miss out on a lot
(20:19):
of action. Again, honor and or privilege for having you
on the show. Thank you so much for taking the
time out and talking with us today, Tony, this is great.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
I really enjoyed being with you guys. I hopefully can
come back against soon. I love being on the show.
Am I still the record holder for the most appearances?
Speaker 5 (20:34):
I think so?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Well, Jeff, I will tell you when Jeff came on
the other day to make the announcement that AW is
coming back to Nashville, he kind of took the record
back from you, But now you took it back from him,
so you're now there.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Okay, Well, I'll have to come on against soon so
I can pad my lead against.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
You well on Nashville, right around the corner.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
Thing, get way out of him and get a comfortable lead,
if that makes sense. I want to make this like
a pre score game so that we can start running
the clock.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
There we go.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yeah, absolutely, We'll get you in studio because I know
Jeff is going to try to do something else with us,
so we'll get you in studio.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Then you'll just surpass Jeff and then you'll be fine.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
That okay, Well, I would love to come into studio.
That would be another new milestone for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Because we've done.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
All of these great interviews and we've never done one
in the studio.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
They've all been like this, haven't they.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah, I believe so.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
And the venue ten minutes from our new building on Broadway.
So AW coming to Nashville, Tony Connin Studio.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
We'll see what happens.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
It makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
I would love to do the Battleground and it would
be a great, great time, especially with AW coming to Nashville,
for me to come into your studio. But I know
you have great listeners all over the country and to
your audience, We've got a big, big episode of Wednesday
Night Dynamite Tomorrow night. You're not gonna want to miss it.
It's eight pm Eastern, seven pm Central. For all your
(21:56):
Nationville listeners, it's seven pm Central, but I know you
have people all the country, So eight pm Eastern, seven
pm Central.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
It's on TBS, the superstation.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
TBS has a great tradition of pro wrestling, if I may,
over fifty years of pro wrestling going back on TBS,
and I'm very honored we continue that with AW Tomorrow night.
You can also stream it on HBO Max. It's going
to be a great Wednesday Night.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Dynamite tomorrow
Welcome to the Battleground Podcast dat you'll play for all
things and exclusive interviews with some of your favorite wrestlers
Bound podcast stop What's up you guys?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome back into I heard his official wrestling podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It is the Battleground Podcast. It is Battle.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Alongside my tag team partner Eli, and I gotta tell you,
I was super excited when Jeff Jarrett called in on
the Morning show to let me know that AEW is
making their return to Nashville November twenty six for AW
Dynamite Thanksgiving Eve and Collision Collision Thanksgiving at Nashville's newest venue,
a venue where Sir Paul McCartney is playing just twenty
(00:52):
days before AW gets there, the Pinnacle, and joining us
on the show today is a really good friend of
the show, the.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
President of a w Towny Conjoined and it's not great to.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
See you both.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
I really always love doing these interviews with both of you,
and it's gonna be a great week.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
We have a huge Dynamite Tomorrow night. Wednesday Night.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Dynamite's gonna be massive this week and I'm excited to
talk about AW with both of you guys ahead of
the big Wednesday Night Dynamite show.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Tomorrow, absolutely, and we're very excited to talk about it
with you as well. And one thing I do want
to talk about, because I'm gonna kick things off with
you something that really caught the attention of fans.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Uh recently, you moved.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Taz's Hall of Fame ceremony off TV at his request
so the focus could stay on the AW roster itself.
I gotta say that's a pretty powerful move. What was
that conversation with Taz like and what does that say
about how you're running things inside of AW.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Well, he shot me.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
A text message and said, can we do this off
the air? And for all the reasons he said later
in the video we did together, he said he wanted
to really give the screen time to the wrestlers today
and you know, focus on them and not spend the
TV time on honoring his legendary career, which I was
excited to do, but I understood Taz's perspective and we
(02:12):
ended up having a nice ceremony.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
It's on social media and you can watch it on YouTube.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
But Taz said, hey, Wednesday Night, Dynamite is for the wrestlers.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Taz is the host of the show. He's a legend
in wrestling.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
He's a great commentator, but he said, let's keep the
wrestling show about the wrestlers today and my retirement, my
great career, celebrating that we can.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Talk about that off the air, and that's.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
More for the people who are in the arena tonight,
because that was in an arena and tomorrow's show also
finishing up a great three week stand in an arena
in Philadelphia now known as the twenty three hundred Arena
where Taz really broke through and became a top star
nationally before he eventually signed and started wrestling on TV
(03:01):
worldwide every week, and going back to Philadelphia where a
lot of the fans love and respect Taz. There were
so many of his fans from the nineties back in
the building. Years later, I myself, as a thirteen year
old kid, had gone to that arena to watch Kaz wrestle.
I'm wearing a big Taz shirt in the videos. I
(03:23):
was a chunky kid, so the shirt then is too
big for me now that I was scaring on thirteen.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
But I loved going back to the building.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
I hadn't been there since I was thirteen years old,
and it's even more special to go back for AW
and to have Taz be a part of our team,
it's really cool.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
So that was very selfless by Taz. I was happy
to honor his request, and I'm.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Very excited about AW Wednesday Night Dynamite Tomorrow night. Of
course Taz hosting the show. It's our final week of
this great stretch of shows we've done in Philadelphia.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Coming off maybe the best one yet.
Speaker 4 (04:01):
I thought Saturday's Collision was one of the best shows
of the entire year, start to finish, really a perfect
wrestling show top to bottom. I felt like, So it's
a great way to go into Wednesday Night Dynamite with
all this momentum, and we just had this great celebration
for Taz, one of our legends, and it feels like
we're going to have a really great show tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
The lineup is just incredible.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
I think, just a really strong lineup of matches for
tomorrow Night's Wednesday Night AW Dynamite show.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
Yeah, coming off Collision, I thought the FTR Priest Billington
match was really solid. It was a very solid tag
team match this week. You know, speaking of keeping the
spotlight on the roster, you know, we're not too far
removed from All In Texas, huge record breaking event right
around the corner from Toronto. You've said the creative has
really been on another level since late last year. Were
(04:57):
there any specific lessons you learned coming out of All
In Texas that you're going to carry into All Out?
Maybe some logistical things or just storyline things. I mean,
is there anything from the big show this summer you're
carrying into the fall.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I think we had a tremendous show. I think the
momentum is continuing.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Certainly.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
We had our great champions coming out of that show,
with Hangman Page winning the AW World Championship, with Timeless
Tony Storm winning the AW Women's World Championship. Both of
them are on fire and they're both going to have
top competition going into All Out. Both of them at
(05:34):
All Ends stood top the wrestling world and really had
these incredible, incredible matches for each of them, just a
perfect way to celebrate their championship reigns. I think right
now the roster is just so strong. We've got so
many great wrestlers in AW. There's some really really hot
(05:54):
rivalries on the show right now. We've been out some
big matches going into to All Out. That's certainly looking
back at all In our rivalries that have been developing
for a long time. I'm in particular really excited about
John Moxley versus Darby Allen in a coffin match, and
(06:14):
you mentioned FTR. I'm also very excited about FTR versus
Adam Copland and Christian Cage looking back at all In.
As you mentioned, these are a couple of the matches
on All Out that really have been cooking and building
and eating up and developing, and certainly All In you
could feel maybe that these matches were coming and looking
(06:37):
ard All Out. So I'm really excited for the All
Out pay per view. It's available on HBO Max. It
would be the first time we've ever sold a pay
per view on HBO Max.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
You can also get it on your.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Cable and satellite as you probably bought wrestling pay per
views for years.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Your TV still has.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Them, and you can get them on Amazon, Prime, YouTube,
a lot of great carriers. But we're especially excited right
now about being on HBO Max for the first time
ever with pay per view, and it's going to be
a really great show, and that is another major change
going into All Out. As you mentioned there, and I
(07:16):
think from a wrestling perspective, things are really strong. We've
been putting on great shows. The show just this past
weekend you mentioned FTR versus Prieston Billington was a great,
great match.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I thought it excellent.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
I really thought everything top to bottom on that show
was excellent, which makes it such a strong all round episode.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Of Collision that we just did.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
When you have John Moxley versus Daniel Garcia, that was
a tremendous match as well. The eight woman tag match
was fantastic with Meghan bain Tecla, Julie Hart and Sky
Blue taking on timeless Tony Storm, the world champion, Mina, Shirrikawa,
Harley and Statlander as a tag team.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
That was a great, great match in the aftermath definitely.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Set up a very interesting situation going into all out
and of course what a man event. Mark Briscoe versus
Takeshia and the big twist at the end, the man
whose wedding I had attended just hours earlier, he came
down to Philadelphia. He skipped his own honeymoon to cost
Mark Briscoe that T and T Championship match. That is
(08:26):
truly generational hating from him, yes, and he is absolutely
he fits that billing and there is no love lost
between Mark Briscoe and MJF. That is a real rivalry,
that is a very personal situation. There were some wrestlers
that were able to put their differences aside out of
(08:49):
respect for Max's wife, Alicia, who is lovely, who is
a big part of our backstage team. She's a great interviewer,
a great host in wrestling. Alicia, Alicia too, Friedman Now
and a lot of the wrestlers who are fan favorites
were able to put those differences aside and come to
the wedding. And you know, then you had Mark Briscoe.
(09:10):
I think he's wisely took the high road and said, okay,
well at least it's great, but I don't want to
be in a room with Max. And at the end,
Max really really came out there and stabbed Risco in
the back and also cost him a big championship match.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
And I know Max felt like it was a measure
of revenge for him. I really felt like to me, I.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Even if it wasn't exactly the kind of ending you'd
want after a great, great wrestling match with Takesha and
Mark Briscoe.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
He did make a lot.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Of sense for Max to take his opening there, I
have to admit, and I felt like this was one
of our best episodes that aw start to finish. I
thought start to Finish, top to bottom, very segment on
the show was excellent and I really really enjoyed it.
And I think that venue the fans just brings so
much great energy and the crew of wrestlers we have
(10:10):
on Saturday were phenomenal, and also this collision really set
the stage for some big, big matches tomorrow night on
Wednesday Night, Dynamite, Big matches like Timeless Tony Storm taking
on Sky Blue. After that wild brawl and a couple
of wild brawls in recent weeks with Tony Storm and
Triangle of Madness, We're gonna get a Philly street fight
(10:32):
Guy Blue versus Timeless Tony Storm, and that's coming up
tomorrow night on Wednesday Night, Dynamite. Timeless Tony Storm is
one of the greatest wrestlers in the world, but she
better watch out in a Philly street fight because Sky
Blue is somebody who was setting man on the fire.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah correct, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Mercedes Monet just defended her title against Alec Windsor or
Alex Windsor Windsor with Osprey's name getting pulled into the max.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
It had a lot of people online talking about it.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Do you see stories like that as the key to
taking the women's division to the next level when it's
the real lives.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
At a great level and having the best year we've
ever had. The wrestling is outstanding top to bottom, and
we've got a couple of great matches featuring stars of
the women's division tomorrow night.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
On Wednesday Night Dynamite, you know, we.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Mentioned timeless Tony Storm having that huge Philly street.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Fight with Sky Blue.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
I'm also really really excited about having Mercedes Monet the
TBS champion. As you mentioned Alex Windsor, they had a fantastic.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Match on Wednesday Night Dynamite, just outstanding.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
I really really liked the match and the aftermath, of course,
led to the return of the original eight of you
Women's World Champion Rio.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
And when you have Rio, who is somebody that.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
I have so much respect for her, Somebody I think
is just one of the top top wrestlers, Somebody that
I really think has the talent to be the face
of TBS, Somebody who's represented us as a world champion,
an outstanding star. She is a perfect challenger for Mercedes
Mone for the TVs Championship.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
At all out.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
And also, you have really, in my opinion, some of
the top top top wrestlers in the world buying for
Mercedes Mone Championship. And what a great team you'd have
with Rio and Alex Windsor teaming up against Mercedes Mone.
(12:43):
And Mercedes Mone has gone and pulled a name out
of Rio's pass one of the great stars, somebody from
the early years of ADW and somebody else I'm also
excited to have back, and that's Emmy Soccer, Rio's teacher
with thirty years of experience and somebody that really may
(13:03):
have taught Rio everything she knows. So I think that's
a great, great matchup. To have Mercedes teaming with Soccer
versus Rio and Alex Windsor in a tag match tomorrow
night should be a great, great match and will give
us a really valuable perspective going into what should be
a great, great week of TV.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
Yeah, and seeing the Queen and the CEO Tech team
together should be a very good sight to see.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
In the ring.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
So let's kind of pivot a little bit you know,
staying on the focus of talent this year. You know,
one of your big breakaway talents this year has been
Harley Cameron. She is, you know, if we're kind of
taking a page out of Anthony Bowen's book The five
you know, five stage player, five tool player there.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I mean, she seems like she can do everything.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
What is it like to have a valuable tool like
that on the on the team that she can wrestle,
she can talk, she can sing, she I mean, it
seems like she can literally do anything you throw at her.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Vin trilli Quist, by the way, Yes, she's a.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
Great, great talent. Absolutely, We're really lucky to have Harley
Cameron in AW. She's an incredibly valuable wrestler and somebody
that brings a lot of different.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Skills to AW. You're totally totally right about that.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
I'm really really excited about having Harley Cameron competing in
AW but also all the things she brings to the
locker room. She's one of the most respected people. She's
worked so hard. She hasn't been wrestling that long, and
it's amazing she's gotten very, very good in the ring.
But she has so many talents outside the ring too.
And it's like Harley can do almost anything. So I'm
(14:39):
a big, big fan of Harley Cameron, and I think
she brings a really really valuable perspective to AW. And
also somebody that represents AW really well outside and can
give fans an interesting perspective on AW, somebody that might
be very different than what they had imagined a pro
wrestler would be.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
Like absolutely another quick question. This has got a lot
of us nerds very very happy the announcement Bran Danielson
will be a permanent addition to the announcing table moving forward.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Well, you know what brought you to that decision?
Speaker 5 (15:12):
Was that something you'd been planning in the background or
was it just kind of a natural flow and it
just happened, Like did you kind of bring us up
to speed on that decision?
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Sure, As we were preparing for Forbidden Door, I thought
Brian would be fantastic on the commentary team for that show,
Knowing the background he has, knowing his insights into pro
wrestling and how prepared he is and how much research
he does on pro wrestling worldwide, Knowing the stars competing
(15:41):
at Forbidden Door coming from different promotions, stars from Mexico
and Japan and traveling from all over the world to
compete at that show in London. Also, I think Brian's
a great star and people want to see Brian Danielson
on television and here Brian Danielson on television, and thankfully
he's got very intelligent, insightful things when he does talk.
(16:01):
So I really thought Brian would be a great part
of the commentary team, and he did a fantastic job
on Forbidden Door. So I had talked to him maybe
after his promotional tour of Australia was complete about Brian
joining us on Wednesday, and it worked out perfect and
he'll be joining us tomorrow night on Wednesday Night Dynamite
(16:24):
as a host a commentator providing his really really valuable.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Insights into pro wrestling.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
I think it's great anytime we're able to bring on
Brian Danielson to do anything in aw but especially to
provide very very intelligent and cycle commentary on pro wrestling.
That's a great thing in aew that we have now
with Brian Danielson as a host on Wednesday Night Dynamite
starting tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Absolutely for sure.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
I know your time is very preciouscause you got to
get some other things. Especially with the NFL season going on,
you got more or AW stuff going on.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
I had so much time for you, Tim, I want
to be here on the battleground.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Well we do.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
We do appreciate that, Tony, But I wanted to ask
you from a business side.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
AW has been doing something really cool lately.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
They've been doing residencies the way bands and comedians do.
Can you break down the business side of how all
that comes together? And do you ever worry about, you know,
the crowds getting a little too comfortable or maybe stale
if you're in the same venue multiple times during a run.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Well, I think we've picked great cities for the residencies,
cities like Chicago and Philadelphia where you never get concerned
about the fans quieting down. Were like last year around
Dallas in the Eastports Stadium in Arlington. I think when
you've got great markets like Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington,
when you have great markets like Philadelphia and Chicago, I
(17:47):
don't worry about that as much because I know there's
great AW fans. I know they love wrestling in those
cities and they're gonna keep coming out and being loud
and proud wrestling fans and as long as we deliver
great shows.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I never take it for granted.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
We always have to put on great shows and great matches,
great rivalries. That's what we're doing in AW and I
think eight W is having our best year yet start
to finish, we can pull this thing off. I mean
we're right now in September and since January, I think
we're having so far the best year of wrestling from
January to September we've ever had, and we've accomplished so
(18:25):
many cool things this year, hit new milestones. We did
our biggest crowd ever here in North America for All
in Texas, we set the record for the most wrestling.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Fans ever at the London two Forbidden Door.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Now coming back and going to have a huge, huge
crowd at All Out in Toronto, and our weekly TV
shows most importantly are really good shows. And going back
to just this weekend, it was a great collision. It's
going to be a great Wednesday night Dynamite. I'm really
excited for it. I think it's going to be a great,
great show. And I also think if you look at
(19:04):
the lineup of wrestlers in AW right now and the
quality of the shows that we're putting on. I think
that if we keep this pace up, this will be
our best year and we'll have so much to look
forward to next year. And a huge part of it
has been these crowds supporting us week in week out,
whether it's in a massive arena like the O two
(19:26):
in London or these residencies where we've got these tight
pat crowds, and it comes across with the energy on TV.
I was just watching that collision after the Jaguars win
yesterday and it was a really, really awesome experience to
be able to sit back and watch a show we
had just done the night before and have it feel
(19:48):
so fresh, and have everything clicked so well on the show,
and have it set in motion a great show for
tomorrow for Wednesday night.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Dynamite absolutely well. It's always an honor or privilege to
have you on the show. We're glad that AW is
coming back to Nashville. Of course, watch a w every
week on TBS, T and t, HBO, Max, Amazon, Prime, YouTube,
everywhere that you have a screen you can watch AW.
And you have to watch it every week because if
you miss something, you're gonna miss out on a lot
(20:19):
of action. Again, honor and or privilege for having you
on the show. Thank you so much for taking the
time out and talking with us today, Tony, this is great.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
I really enjoyed being with you guys. I hopefully can
come back against soon. I love being on the show.
Am I still the record holder for the most appearances?
Speaker 5 (20:34):
I think so?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Well, Jeff, I will tell you when Jeff came on
the other day to make the announcement that AW is
coming back to Nashville, he kind of took the record
back from you, But now you took it back from him,
so you're now there.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Okay, Well, I'll have to come on against soon so
I can pad my lead against.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
You well on Nashville, right around the corner.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
Thing, get way out of him and get a comfortable lead,
if that makes sense. I want to make this like
a pre score game so that we can start running
the clock.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
There we go.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yeah, absolutely, We'll get you in studio because I know
Jeff is going to try to do something else with us,
so we'll get you in studio.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Then you'll just surpass Jeff and then you'll be fine.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
That okay, Well, I would love to come into studio.
That would be another new milestone for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Because we've done.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
All of these great interviews and we've never done one
in the studio.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
They've all been like this, haven't they.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah, I believe so.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
And the venue ten minutes from our new building on Broadway.
So AW coming to Nashville, Tony Connin Studio.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
We'll see what happens.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
It makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
I would love to do the Battleground and it would
be a great, great time, especially with AW coming to Nashville,
for me to come into your studio. But I know
you have great listeners all over the country and to
your audience, We've got a big, big episode of Wednesday
Night Dynamite Tomorrow night. You're not gonna want to miss it.
It's eight pm Eastern, seven pm Central. For all your
(21:56):
Nationville listeners, it's seven pm Central, but I know you
have people all the country, So eight pm Eastern, seven
pm Central.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
It's on TBS, the superstation.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
TBS has a great tradition of pro wrestling, if I may,
over fifty years of pro wrestling going back on TBS,
and I'm very honored we continue that with AW Tomorrow night.
You can also stream it on HBO Max. It's going
to be a great Wednesday Night.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Dynamite tomorrow
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