AEW President Tony Khan believes 2025 was a turnaround year for the promotion, and it all started with a New Year’s resolution.
In an interview with Unlikely, Khan detailed the creative shift that took place at the beginning of last year. He explained that he decided to take a more hands-on approach to the booking, moving away from a collaborative committee style to writing the show outlines himself.
“I told myself at the end of 2019… I want to be more focused… instead of having tons of different people collaborate to put an outline together, I’m just going to do the outline myself,” Khan said, seemingly referencing a return to his early booking philosophy. “In January, I thought we made a real turn, and it kept momentum that went throughout the year.”
Khan cited successes like Grand Slam Australia, Revolution at the Crypto.com Arena, and All In Texas as proof that the new direction worked. This momentum culminated in Worlds End last month, which Khan revealed set a new streaming record for the company.
“We’ve been told by HBO, is the most buys yet for any AEW pay-per-view on HBO Max,” Khan stated. “This is probably going to end up being one of the biggest World’s End events ever.”
AEW began streaming its pay-per-view events on HBO Max in September 2025 with All Out Toronto. The record-breaking performance of Worlds End suggests that the audience on the platform is continuing to grow as the partnership matures.