All Elite Wrestling launches, with backing of Jaguars owner Shad Khan

Vowing to “change the world”, All Elite Wrestling has launched as a new professional wrestling league.

The announcement was made outside of TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, just ahead of WWE Smackdown Live right across the street at the Veterans Memorial Arena. AEW has the financial backing of Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, and his son Tony- who is also an executive with the Jags- is expected to be in top leadership.

Professional wrestlers Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks- Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson- serve as Executive Vice Presidents of AEW. They said after a successful independent show, where they were able to bring together ten thousand fans, they wanted to keep the movement going.

“We were eventually approached by the Khan family, and they had a question for the three of us. The question was, ‘Do you guys really want to change the world’. We said yup. They said, ‘We can help’,” they said.

AEW’s first show will take place May 25th in Las Vegas. Their second show will be in Jacksonville, and Rhodes says a large portion of the gate will benefit victims of gun violence.

The announcement also included unveiling some of the wrestlers who have signed with AEW. Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky- who are collectively SoCal Uncensored, or SCU- were the first to announce. Britt Baker, Joey Janela, Maxwell Jacob Friedman, Hangman Page, and others have also joined up.

One of the biggest names to declare he’s “all in” came as a surprise at the end of the rally- Chris Jericho.

“I’m not here to just change the world, AEW is not here to change the world, we are going to change the whole universe,” he says.

Rhodes is promising fair pay for wrestlers, an emphasis on the importance of winning a match, and allowing fans to be fans for whoever they want. He says they want anyone who is an elite athlete to join up.

It seems some of the wrestlers involved still have a little more to learn about fans in Jacksonville specifically. After announcing the Jacksonville show, some in the crowd erupted in the standard “DUUUVAL” chant. The Young Bucks asked Rhodes if the fans were booing, but Rhodes ensured them that it was a cheer.

Cox Media Group