All Elite Wrestling

### Others

Megha Parekh (Senior VP, Chief Legal Officer); Michael Mansury (Senior VP, Co-Executive Producer); Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson & Kenny Omega (Exec. VPs); Jeff Jarrett (Director of Business Development); Christopher Daniels (Manager of Talent Relations)

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is considered the second largest wrestling promotion in the United States. It was founded in 2019 by sports executive Tony Khan and his father Shahid Khan, owner of Fulham FC and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Also involved in the promotion's establishment and early development were professional wrestlers Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, Cody Rhodes and Brandi Rhodes.

AEW has a roster of 'elite' pro-wrestling talent from all around the world. The promotion has a prominent tag team division and women's division, alongside it's highly regarded men's singles division. AEW's current world champions are MJF (men's singles), Saraya (women's), FTR (tag team) and The Acclaimed (trios).

AEW currently broadcasts seven pay-per-view events a year and airs three weekly wrestling shows on cable television - *AEW Dynamite, AEW Rampage* and *AEW Collision*. Since its establishment, AEW's audience and reach has grown rapidly and globally. AEW has held several wrestling shows overseas and has international partnerships with many other wrestling promotions.

## Origins

In 2001, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc., (WWF), purchased rival pro-wrestling promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from AOL Time Warner. WWF and its head, Vince McMahon, had once again succeeded in monopolising US wrestling, having previously been responsible for the 'Death of the Territories'. For almost two decades, WWF (now called WWE) lacked serious competition within the United States. While a few newer promotions would attempt to challenge WWE's dominance in the industry, most notably TNA Wrestling, there was no serious contender for the void that WCW had left behind.

While WWE asserted itself as the top promotion - with the highest revenue, largest market share and most mainstream attention, there was a significant growth of much smaller independent wrestling promotions in the United States. These 'indies' would gain a cult following among die-hard wrestling fans leading to the prominence of numerous wrestlers in these independent promotions. The aforementioned TNA (later Impact Wrestling) and the nationally syndicated Ring of Honor (ROH) also maintained dedicated fanbases, though significantly smaller than WWE, leading to the development of wrestling stars on their programming. US fans craving alternatives to WWE programming also turned to Japanese promotions including the very popular New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) with many of their stars crossing over with smaller US promotions. These alternatives offered different styles and presentations of professional wrestling, demonstrating the variety possible in the sport.

This created a network of wrestling outside of the WWE bubble which, while less mainstream prominence in the US and other markets where the WWE brand of wrestling was dominant, still drew many curious eyes away from WWE's wrestling empire. WWE would court some of the more prominent 'indie' and Japanese talent, in an attempt to regain the attention of lapsed fans. However, several wrestlers who made a name for themselves within WWE, left the company to work in these smaller and international promotions, seeking a change from the WWE system. This also led to significant interest in these other wrestling promotions and wresters realising that it was possible to find success outside of WWE.

WWE at this time had also become 'PG', receiving a more child-friendly television rating that better suited the now publicly traded wrestling company and it's shareholders. This resulted in a toning down of much of the content that had characterised the 'Attitude' and 'Ruthless Aggression' eras of the promotion. This, in part, resulted in limiting many of the wrestlers in WWE creatively and led to many fans feeling alienated from a promotion now catering to a much younger demographic.

One of the most notable examples of a wrestler who 'escaped' WWE in this time was Cody Rhodes. Seeking greater creative control, he went to many of these smaller promotions including ROH and NJPW. This led to a growth in his notability and prestige in the industry, something he was struggling to gain in the WWE where he was a mid-card talent, (upon his return to the promotion in 2022, he would immediately be placed into the 'main-event scene'). Cody would form a strong friendship with other 'indie darlings' - The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) as well as NJPW star Kenny Omega. The four of them would be leading members of The Elite a wrestling stable which would go on to be featured in several different promotions. The Elite grew a substantial following among wrestling fans, in particular through their popular vlog series *Being The Elite.*

### All In

*Full Article: All In (2018)*

The 2018 wrestling event *All In* would be a significant turning point in contemporary wrestling history, and would become the defining moment that led to the birth of All Elite Wrestling the following year.

*All In* was billed as "The Largest Independent Wrestling Show Ever" and prominently featured Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks and other members of The Elite. Wrestlers from many different promotions were booked on the card including wrestlers from Mexican promotion AAA, as well as wrestlers from NJPW and ROH. Other notable wrestlers on the card included Rey Mysterio Jr., Kota Ibushi, Pentagón Jr., Kazuchika Okada, Jay Lethal, Christopher Daniels and future AEW World Champions MJF, "Hangman" Adam Page and Dr. Britt Baker, DMD.

*All In* was held in at the Sears Centre Arena (currently the NOW Arena) in the Hoffman Estates locality of the Chicago metropolitan area, in Illinois. The Chicago area had (and continues to have) a strong independent wrestling scene with a lot of prominent figures in wrestling born in and around the city. Professional wrestling fan Tony Khan also grew up near Chicago. At the time of *All In,* Khan was also considering the possibility of becoming a wrestling promoter.

*All In* was a huge success, selling out the arena with a total of 11,263 attendees. It was the first non-WWE and non-WCW show to sell over 10,000 tickets. *All In's* success was on par with many of WWE's smaller pay-per-view shows - a real achievement for independent wrestling. The show also managed a sizeable, estimated 50,000 PPV buys. *All In* proved a large audience existed that was excited and ready for an alternative to WWE, with a different style and philosophy behind it.

### The Elite meets Tony Khan

Tony Khan became acquainted with The Elite at various points

1. ↑ https://archive.ph/wip/MM53g
2. ↑ https://archive.ph/wip/vkOsJ