[Narrator] The world of professional wrestling has
a brand new battle of the billionaires.
In one corner, Vince McMahon.
He's chairman of WWE, and according to Forbes,
he's worth $3.2 billion.
In the other, Shahid Khan.
He's worth $6.9 billion.
Khan made a fortune in the auto parts industry.
Today he owns the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL franchise and
the Fulham Football Club in England.
And it turns out his 36-year-old son, Tony,
is a huge wrestling fan.
With his dad's backing,
Tony Khan is starting his own promotion:
All Elite Wrestling, or AEW.
- All Elite Wrestling is a new wrestling promotion
that is slowly and steadily growing an interest in America
and has the potential to challenge
WWE as, like, the next big thing in wrestling.
- Are you guys ready for a revolution?
[Narrator] AEW announced its formation in January.
Their upcoming live event, "Double or Nothing,"
sold out in four minutes,
and they've since signed some major names
in the wrestling industry.
- AEW has some of the most impressive talent
in the world right now.
- Your questions have been answered!
- We have Kenny Omega,
the most desired non-WWE talent for,
I dunno, three or four years now.
Cody Rhodes, who's the son of Dusty Rhodes,
"The American Dream," WWE Legend.
- The most dominant tag team of this past generation.
- The Young Bucks.
They're high flyers, they're super fun to watch.
- Thank you, Young Bucks!
Thank you, Young Bucks!
[Narrator] AEW could finally give WWE
some legit competition.
For almost 20 years,
WWE has ruled the pro wrestling landscape.
- And there's a wet spot where Eric Bischoff was sitting
because Sting is out here!
[Narrator] Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling,
or WCW, gave WWE a run for its money in the '90s,
known as the Monday Night Wars.
But WWE prevailed,
and since WWE bought WCW in 2001,
the company has reigned supreme.
So, does AEW even stand a chance?
- Well, hopefully it's the answer to
a lot of wrestling fans' prayers.
You know, I think a lot of
wrestling fans have been disenfranchised with
really just having one option.
[Narrator] If you're a pro wrestling fan,
odds are you've heard of Conrad Thompson.
He's one of the world's foremost
pro wrestling insiders.
He hosts three hugely successful pro wrestling podcasts.
He's also buddies with Tony Khan, who
invited him to be part of the AEW announcement.
Oh, and wrestling legend
Ric Flair is Thompson's father-in-law.
- The idea that there is a new player in the game,
someone who's well funded and
has a big vision of what wrestling could be.
I think a lot of people believe we are at the beginning
of a giant boom,
and a lot of that is because of AEW.
[Narrator] In addition to stars like The Young Bucks
and Kenny Omega, AEW also signed WWE legend
Chris Jericho
who could be the first of many WWE superstars with
contracts up for renewal to sign with
the new promotion.
- We are gonna change the whole universe!
[Narrator] After the announcement that
Chris Jericho would be joining the AEW roster,
the wrestler sat down for an interview with
Tony Khan on his "Talk is Jericho" podcast.
- Advertisers can see there's a huge base of
wrestling fans all over the world.
They are really passionate.
When you've got all these great talents
with their contracts coming up,
we're in a market where there's TV money to be had.
It's the right climate for a number of reasons.
- I am already a champion!
[Narrator] At the time of this report,
AEW still hasn't announced the television deal.
- Los Lucha Brothers!
[Narrator] But the company filed for
a trademark last fall that could reveal its plans.
- They applied for the trademark "Tuesday Night Dynamite."
My country math says they're probably looking at
a Tuesday night show.
[Narrator] "WWE Smackdown" currently airs on
Tuesdays on USA,
but the company just signed a five-year deal with
Fox worth a billion dollars
that will move the show to Fridays,
leaving Tuesdays wide open.
- I do think if you've preconditioned wrestling fans that
wrestling is on Tuesday nights, maybe that's a smart play.
Just slide in that same spot, and then
it's just a matter of when they launch and
where they launch.
[Narrator] So is AEW really going to be competing
with WWE?
- WWE's revenue's never been higher.
I think WWE being concerned about
AEW at this point is maybe a little silly.
They have such a lead on everyone.
The idea that they're concerned about losing
that spot to someone who
at this point hasn't even ran a show.
There's been no revenue created yet.
Maybe what they don't wanna do is
they don't wanna lose talent to AEW.
But the idea that they're going to lose market share,
that's a different thing.
So if I'm Vince, I wanna protect my investment
and I don't want those talents to leave.
But losing market share?
I don't think they're worried about that right now.
- Vince McMahon is one of my all-time idols in terms of
building a brand and sustaining a great company.
- Now you're at war with him.
- I don't think that's the case.