Tony Khan Teases Potential Global Tag Team Tournament
Tony Khan discussed a potential AEW world tag team tournament.
One of the founding principles of All Elite Wrestling was its focus on tag team wrestling, and the company has delivered on that promise by featuring tag team matches as main events on pay-per-views, television shows and specials. Now, Tony Khan has addressed the possibility of AEW hosting a tag team tournament featuring teams from both its own roster and around the world.
At the AEW Redemption Media Call, Khan was asked about the possibility of introducing a tournament similar to the Crockett Cup, a reference to the legendary Jim Crockett Promotions event from the territory era.
“I have been thinking a lot about having a big tag team tournament with teams throughout the world of wrestling. We have a lot of great partner promotions with AEW working with great companies like CMLL and New Japan Pro Wrestling. They have great teams of their own, but also, I think some of the best tag team wrestling right now is in Ring of Honor. I think there’s a lot of great tag teams there, and certainly in AEW we have so many of the greatest tag teams of all time right now… so many great young and upcoming teams that you can see on Dynamite, Collision and in ROH. Plus through our partnerships in Mexico with CMLL with New Japan Pro Wrestling and our other international partners. That’s a great thought and that’s something I have considered.”
-Tony Khan
Tony Khan is famously a wrestling historian and has paid tribute to past promotions and territories on numerous occasions, including at the upcoming AEW Redemption pay-per-view, where the company will honour the Rougeau family. He has also put his own spin on concepts from wrestling history, such as creating the Continental Classic, a round-robin tournament inspired by events like the G1 Climax, which has since become a popular staple of AEW.
All Elite Wrestling has held tag team tournaments in the past, including blind eliminator tournaments where teams are randomly paired together. This format led to the creation of the popular “Better Than You, Bay Bay” pairing, which developed into a lengthy storyline and feud between Adam Cole and MJF that spanned multiple pay-per-views.
Due to AEW’s various partnerships with promotions such as NJPW and CMLL, there would be plenty of great tag teams to choose from around the world, including The Young Bucks, FTR, Cope & Cage, The Dogs, Knockout Brothers, Bishamon, United Empire, El Sky Team, Los Villanos, Unbound Co. and more. For now, though, it remains to be seen whether the idea comes to fruition in the near future.
Elsewhere on the media call, Khan said emphasised that AEW Redemption will be a “very important show” heading into All In: London next month. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the possibility of AEW hosting a global tag team tournament as soon as we hear more.
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