During a media call ahead of AEW’s upcoming All Out PPV, Tony Khan, the founder, co-owner, president, and CEO of the promotion fielded questions from wrestling journalists. During the call, Khan somewhat surprising took a shot at WWE by outright saying AEW’s previous pay-per-view Double or Nothing was better than WrestleMania 36.
This might be the pull-out quote of the press conference, but I’m going to say it, I thought Double or Nothing kicked the crap out of WrestleMania. It was a much better pay per view. We were both operating under difficult circumstances.Tony Khan
This comment has sparked controversy online, with AEW fans backing Khan’s claims, while WWE fans reacted angrily and defended WrestleMania. Obviously, Khan is entitled to his opinion, and of course, a wrestling promoter will favor his product. However, looking at how both shows did in Wrestling Observer Newsletter subscriber polls and on CageMatch.net does seem to validate Khan’s claim. Wrestling Observer subscribers gave WrestleMania 57.6% thumbs-up, and Double or Nothing 91.8% thumbs-up. Cage Match visitors gave WrestleMania 36 an average score across both nights 5.97 while giving Double or Nothing 8.38.
While both shows did feature excellent wrestling, WrestleMania did under deliver in its men’s world championship matches, with both lasting under 7 minutes combined, plus the Firefly Funhouse match, which was very divisive. AEW had the advantage of running after WrestleMania and learned from WWE’s mistakes. AEW delivered a card without filler and was headlined by the Stadium Stampede match, which some critics have called a potential match of the year contender.
