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.