Tony Khan seems to acknowledge AEW ‘Double or Nothing’ is placeholder PPV

AEW seems to have been in a holding pattern waiting for the launch of “Collision,” then the “Forbidden Door” pay-per-view, and then the late-summer “All In” show in London.

Tony Khan seemed to confirm as much in a pre-“Double or Nothing” media call on Thursday.

“I don’t want to look forward past this Sunday. I think this Sunday is a really important show. And when we get through this, we’ll have a better idea of what the future landscape is going to hold for AEW, and what to expect going into ‘Forbidden Door,’ and the new landscape of television with ‘Dynamite,’ ‘Rampage’ and ‘Collision’ coming June 17,” Khan said on the call.

You see it there in the quote – “when we get through this, we’ll have a better idea of what the future landscape is going to hold for AEW.”

The booking for “Double or Nothing” has been almost an afterthought, with a placeholder feud for the AEW world title that has not gotten over with fans, and a back-and-forth involving The Elite and Blackpool Combat Club that was never going anywhere from the get-go.

It has been rumored for weeks that CM Punk will be returning with the launch of “Collision” on June 17. The “Forbidden Door” pay-per-view with a mix of AEW and New Japan stars is set for June 25, eight days later.

The company will have to work through those two shows before Khan can begin laying down the pathway toward “All In,” the Wembley Stadium show scheduled for Aug. 27 that has already sold a reported 68,000 tickets.

Khan said Thursday that he wants to “keep that momentum going,” but AEW doesn’t really have any momentum right now.

The news headlines around the company of late have focused on Punk and the missteps in the rollout of the launch of “Collision” around his expected return more than anything going on with “Dynamite,” “Rampage” or Sunday’s “Double or Nothing” pay-per-view.

The lack of buzz around “Double or Nothing” isn’t exactly anything to build from looking forward to what could be an interesting summer for AEW with so much on the schedule.

“I’m really looking forward to some of the big events we have, and certainly there’s no event bigger, there’s no attendance, or presentation or anything else for us, that’s ever going to be able to top what we’re doing at Wembley Stadium,” Khan said. “I do think we can keep it going week to week to week and build off it and then use that to continue to build. I think it really all starts with Sunday.”