AEW head honcho Tony Khan has hurled quite the shot at WWE.
Khan finds himself in an interesting situation. A scheduling conflict with the MLB playoffs has forced WWE to move SmackDown to FOX Sports 1 on Oct. 15. SmackDown usually airs from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET on Friday nights, while AEW Rampage begins at 10 p.m. ET.
Things are a little different this week. SmackDown will now be running an extra half-hour and WWE is bringing the big guns. Brock Lesnar has been advertised for the show as well as a match between SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks.
Speaking to Robbie Fox on My Mom’s Basement, Tony Khan said he expects Rampage to be a better show than SmackDown on Oct. 15 since Raw “sucked.”
“On Friday, they’re doing a half-hour head-to-head with Rampage, which is new. I put my show on consciously after SmackDown knowing there is a huge audience of people that watch that show and a lot of people are going to watch Rampage, which has been a hit for TNT. They’re literally going to do a half-hour head-to-head, that’s fine. We’ll see what happens. I’m not saying for sure we’ll win and maybe the odds are against us in some ways, but we’re going to do the better show, I know. If you don’t believe me, watch the go-home show [Raw] they did last night because it sucked.”
AEW has also been building interest with their Rampage show. The promotion has even announced a “Buy In” preshow, which will be free on YouTube beginning at 9 p.m. ET. On the preshow, Bryan Danielson will go one-on-one with Japanese wrestling legend Minoru Suzuki.
As for the Rampage show airing live on TNT, it’ll feature CM Punk vs. Matt Sydal, The Men Of The Year & Junior dos Santos vs. The Inner Circle, and Ruby Soho vs. The Bunny.
