All Elite Wrestling CEO, President, General Manager and Head of Creative Tony Khan addressed the company's changing perception during an exclusive interview with the Battleground Podcast this week.
"There is a very good perception about AEW in 2025. The company is doing great shows. This feels like the best year ever in AEW," Khan said. "This whole year has been a huge uptick for AEW on TV. When you factor in the additional fans watching on streaming on the simulcast, it's just going fantastic for us. There is a great perception about AEW. It's a great time to work here. It's also a lot of fun. It's a fun place to work. It's a great place to apply your trade as a wrestler and we're looking for the very best. This is where the best wrestle. AEW has the best wrestlers in the world and we want to keep it that way. It's a very high bar to reach this roster and we want to maintain the quality."
Khan's comments came after free agent wrestlers Elayna Black and Shotzi Blackheart both publicly expressed strong interest in signing with AEW following their recent WWE releases and returns to the independent circuit. Former AEW champion Swerve Strickland, who signed with the company in 2022 after a stint with WWE, and Will Ospreay, who had previously made sporadic appearances before signing with AEW full-time over WWE in 2024, both praised the roster quality and benefit of signing more wrestlers who want to build the brand in recent interviews.
AEW, which is only in its sixth year of existence, was founded by Khan and several professional wrestlers -- the Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), Cody Rhodes and Kenny Omega as an alternative to the monopoly WWE had on televised North American wrestling for nearly 20 years with initial strong fan support. The company had, however, experienced some growing pains since its launch, but has been praised for its recent pay-per-view and television booking throughout 2025.
All Elite Wrestling will hold its biggest annual pay-per-view event, All In, at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on July 12, which will include title matches such as Women's World Champion 'Timeless' Toni Storm vs. Mercedes Moné and AEW World Champion Jon Moxley vs. 'Hangman' Adam Page, as well as a Winner Takes All unification match for the inaugural AEW Unified Championship between Continental champion Kazuchika Okada and International champion Kenny Omega.