Tag: Tony Khan

Tony Khan Addresses Reported AEW Departures, Teases ‘Exciting Things’ To Announce

A number of AEW executives and producers are departing or have already departed the company, but in the latest AEW media scrum, Tony Khan said that he’s actually excited for what the backstage turnover means for AEW’s future.

“I have a pretty big thing to announce going forward,” Khan teased. “Obviously it’s a lot of people I really value … I could write a book on each of these people.” Khan says that it’s challenging to have such long-time stalwarts depart the company, but he is excited about what the future holds for AEW. The AEW chief executive also pointed out that the end of the year usually sees some contracts expire and people move on.

“This Saturday night, Worlds End, it’s going to be a new group and there’ll be some new things happening and I’m really excited about it,” Khan gushed, once again reiterating that he’s grateful for the contributions of people like Dana Massie, QT Marshall, and other backstage workers that are moving on in 2024. Massie, wife of The Young Bucks’ Nick Jackson, was the head of AEW’s merchandising division until recently when she chose to leave the company after feeling that Khan and the rest of AEW didn’t stand up for her husband in the wake of his backstage altercation with CM Punk in September 2022. While Jackson was willing to re-sign with the company, Dana opted not to.

QT Marshall, on the other hand, is leaving due to what he feels is a change in the creative direction of the company, as well as to pursue work elsewhere as a wrestler.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Tony Khan Teases ‘Big Revelations’ In Devil Storyline At AEW Worlds End 2023

AEW Worlds End is set to take place this Saturday, and it sounds as though one major story is set to reach its zenith. Speaking on today’s media call ahead of the pay-per-view, AEW’s Tony Khan teased what’s to come with the Devil storyline ahead of MJF’s AEW World Championship defense against Samoa Joe.

“Well, it feels like we’re getting close to that point, and I do expect some big revelations and big moments at Worlds End,” Khan said about revealing the masked man’s identity. “It does feel like the secrets will be revealed at Worlds End, and I’m looking forward to it.”

While he continued to hype up the match and storyline, the media call saw Khan speaking at length about the success of the ongoing Continental Classic tournament, which features a more sports-oriented feel. Khan discussed viewing the contrast between the tournament and some of AEW’s other programming as an experiment of sorts, with the sports-influenced style of the tournament acting as the “experiment group” while the previous style of storytelling would be the “control group.” According to Khan, the experiment has been a success, and he intends to shift the company back toward that style of storytelling rather than continuing the exaggerated drama that has enveloped the world title picture as of late.

This week’s “AEW Dynamite” wrapped up with the latest development in the Devil storyline. MJF was scheduled to defend the ROH World Tag Team Championship against two of the Devil’s minions, with Samoa Joe as his partner. However, a video showed Joe recovering from an injury backstage, with MJF insisting to wrestle the match alone. With the help of a third masked goon, MJF lost the ROH tag titles to the minions. After the match, Joe appeared, soon revealing that he had faked the injury and made a deal with the Devil. He laid out the champion ahead of their match this weekend, which takes place in MJF’s backyard — Long Island, New York.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Spoiler: Tony Khan Introduces Brand-New Championship At Recent ROH Taping

This past Saturday, after filming the latest “AEW Collision,” Tony Khan appeared during the standard Ring of Honor taping with an announcement. Khan unveiled a new championship for the promotion: the ROH Women’s Television Championship. It is the first new title introduced since Khan purchased ROH in early 2022, and now becomes the second women’s championship in the promotion. As of now, it’s not clear how the first champion will be decided. More information on the title will likely be revealed this coming Thursday on the next episode of “ROH on HonorClub.”

The announcement of the new title came just one day after the promotion’s latest major event, ROH Final Battle 2023. That show featured Athena defending the ROH Women’s World Championship against Billie Starkz in the main event, with Starkz re-joining Athena after failing to capture the title. Final Battle also saw the crowning of a new ROH Television Championship when Kyle Fletcher won the six-way Survival of the Fittest match on Friday. That title was previously vacated by Samoa Joe after a 574-day reign, with Joe now preparing to challenge MJF for the AEW World Championship.

In addition to Athena and Starkz, ROH’s women’s division currently includes Rachael Ellering, Leyla Hirsch, Taya Valkyrie, Trish Adora, and more. Having just lost her chance at the ROH Women’s World Title in a match many expected her to win, Starkz could very well set her sights on the new championship, but she’ll undoubtedly have many competitors standing in her way if she makes that decision.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Tony Khan On ROH’s TV Rights – ‘We’ve Had A Lot Of Interested Parties’

On Tuesday, Tony Khan took part in a media call to promote Friday night’s Final Battle 2023 pay-per-view event.

During the call, the AEW/ROH President commented on AEW and ROH’s TV rights and whether Ring of Honor could eventually come to Warner Bros. Discovery.

You can check out some highlights from the media call below:

On the possibility of ROH coming to Warner Bros. Discovery: “We’ve had really good talks with Warner Brothers Discovery, had a great visit with them today and we have a really exciting relationship that has grown a lot over the years and has expanded for AEW. Ring of Honor is still a third party in the relationship and is a company putting on really exciting wrestling and is peripheral to the conversation right now. It offers a lot of value to AEW and to a media company. There is a lot of interest in ROH and some of the most exciting wrestling and stories and some of the best events in ROH history are happening now. It’s really awesome that ROH has healthy options and very complimentary for myself, my family, and our business interests, the ROH media rights and the massive library and IP are there and accessible to us as we pursue new media rights for AEW in 2024 and we also have the additional value of the ROH library with the AEW library that has conitnued to grow. Almost 200 episdes of Dynamite, well over 100 episodes of Rampage, and an exciting half-year of Collision.”

On the value of ROH’s library and TV rights: “It is a value for us that we have this big library and additional media rights in addition to the five hours of weekly television and the great shows with Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision. Having that with our pay-per-view shows, our library, and complimenting that with ROH with new events, which have been some of the best events ROH has ever had in the time we’ve own the company, and the ability to go back and look at some of the greatest wrestlers in the world, a lot of them are in AEW now, and some of them wrestle in other companies all over the world. It’s great to look back at that library of events. I definitely think it’s a value add for AEW and ROH to be aligned with media rights that are coming up for AEW in 2024. It’s going to be a very exciting time for AEW and it’s great to have ROH there as far as strategic value.”

On holding onto the ROH TV rights thus far: “As far as the TV rights, we’ve had a lot of interested parties. It’s definitely something I’ve been holding onto and haven’t had a lot of detailed conversations. I think CW is a great network and we did have a visit. Dennis visited us as the Forum last year and was great. I have a lot of respect for Dennis Miller and the CW folks. The timing for us wasn’t necessarily right, but there is a lot of great, interested, people in the market place in both AEW and ROH. For 2024, it will be really exciting time for pro wrestling and ROH added good value going forward.”

Source: eWn

Tony Khan Says He Can’t Legally Talk About CM Punk’s Return To WWE

After his departure from AEW due to a backstage altercation with Jack Perry at All In 2023, CM Punk made a shocking return to WWE following the main event of Saturday’s Survivor Series 2023 pay-per-view event.

Tony Khan recently did an interview with BBC West Midlands, where he was asked about Punk’s WWE return. The AEW President said,

“Can’t talk about that, nor do I think it’s the time or the place. But I appreciate you asking, and I’m very excited about AEW All In Wembley Stadium. Not to dodge or duck your question, it’s just not something I can legally talk about.“

Source: eWn

Tony Khan Reveals How Ronda Rousey ROH Appearance Came About, Clarifies Her AEW Status

Ronda Rousey is officially living the life of an independent wrestler, including making a stop in Ring of Honor, where Rousey made her promotional debut at this week’s ROH taping, teaming with Marina Shafir to take on Billie Starkz and ROH Women’s World Champion Athena. According to AEW President and ROH Owner Tony Khan, the appearance was a one-off for now.

“She’s not signed but we had a great conversation,” Khan said at the post-AEW Full Gear press conference. Rousey had wrestled against Starkz earlier in the week at a local show in Los Angeles, and Khan wanted to keep the animosity going and felt the feud would be a good addition to that week’s Ring of Honor. This corroborates a previous report that said Rousey was booked to help increase HonorClub subscriptions.

“Ronda was happy to come here and she was great and the crowd was really excited to see her,” Khan gushed. “We’d love to have her back sometime.” Rousey is also a Los Angeles-area local, making the recent tapings in Inglewood easy for the former WWE Raw Women’s Champion to attend.

The former UFC Champion wrestled for WWE from 2018, racking up numerous accolades as well as a Royal Rumble win, until this past summer when she and WWE parted ways. She re-emerged in October, wrestling alongside Shafir at Lucha VaVoom, wrestling Taya Valkyrie and Brian Kendrick. Former AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa said Rousey could be a great addition to the AEW locker room, should she someday sign.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Tony Khan Confirms New AEW Title For Continental Classic, Along With Rules & Start Date

AEW President Tony Khan has confirmed that the first AEW Continental Classic tournament will culminate in the crowning of the first AEW Continental Champion.

Khan wrote on social media Saturday night, “The Continental Classic starts this week, Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve on #AEWDynamite! 12 fighters, no interference, nobody at ringside. The winner becomes AEW Continental Champion + ROH World Champion + NJPW Strong Openweight Champion, a new Triple Crown Champion at Worlds End!”

As noted, Eddie Kingston announced at AEW Full Gear that he will defend his ROH World and NJPW STRONG Openweight titles in every match he competes in of the round-robin-style tournament. Six competitors will be split into two groups for those round-robin bouts, which will begin this Wednesday, November 22, on “Dynamite.” The matches will continue for six weeks across “Dynamite” and “Collision” until the finals take place at the new AEW Worlds End pay-per-view on Saturday, December 30, in Long Island.

The first Continental Classic will have 12 competitors but only four have been confirmed thus far: Kingston, Bryan Danielson, Andrade El Idolo, and Mark Briscoe. Wrestling Inc. will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

CM Punk & Tony Khan Involved In Heated Exchange At AEW All In 2023

We have even more details on what went down before Sunday’s AEW All In 2023 pay-per-view event went on the air, including potential issues between Tony Khan and CM Punk.

According to a report from Wade Keller of PWTorch, CM Punk was already said to have been pissed off about not being picked up at the airport by anyone associated with AEW. Instead, he took a train to his hotel and got lost along the way. It’s worth noting that Punk wasn’t aware at the time that no one from AEW was picked up at the airport due to travel issues and shuttles not being available. So he wasn’t being singled out.

The report notes that Punk reportedly approached Tony Khan in front of other people in his locker room. Punk came at the AEW President in a “heated, intense manner” and “chewed out Khan with harsh phrasing.”

CM Punk almost didn’t come out for his match with Samoa Joe to start the show after his backstage fight with Jack Perry. Joe was reportedly furious about the situation and had to convince Punk to go out to the ring. While Joe was able to calm Punk down enough that he would agree to continue on with the match, both men were not happy about what had just unfolded. It is said that as of Tuesday morning, CM Punk and Tony Khan had not spoken.

Both CM Punk and Jack Perry are suspended from AEW, with Punk being informed of his suspension through his lawyer. One source said CM Punk appeared to be saying “goodbye” while in the ring and walking to the back just after his match with Joe. There are some rumors that the relationship between CM Punk, Tony Khan, and AEW is beyond repair at this point.

CM Punk and Jack Perry will not be wrestling at All Out 2023 in Chicago, IL on Sunday unless the suspensions are lifted. Of course, Punk is a big draw in his hometown of Chicago.

Finally, it was added that CM Punk has been fined for previous incidents. One source said that Punk was fined in the “five figure range” for his off-air comments about “Hangman” Adam Page following a recent episode of AEW Collision.

On Tuesday’s edition of Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez confirmed what was already known from several weeks ago, which is that Jack Perry wanted to use real glass for a segment on AEW Collision. This is something CM Punk refused to allow on “his brand” and told Perry that if he had a problem with it, he could go work on Wednesdays.

While CM Punk’s side put out a story about Jack Perry wanting to do the spot so he could get “cut” and avoid working the following week, Perry had a pre-planned vacation.

While the glass spot involving a limo on the “Zero Hour” pre-show at AEW All In 2023 was approved, Jack Perry’s comments during the match were not. Alvarez said,

“The issue from the Jungle Boy side was the belief that ‘I got this okayed, it was cleared with the company and then this guy didn’t let me do it.’ He felt ‘he’s not letting me do it because I’m friends with The Young Bucks.’ That was what was in his mind, apparently.”

As far as CM Punk’s All In 2023 travel issues are concerned, Alvarez said,

“I have heard two versions of this story. One version is that CM Punk arrived, nobody was there, he couldn’t get a hold of anybody and so he decided that he was going to take the train. The other version I heard is that when he arrived there was nobody there but he did get a hold of people and he offered or they asked if he wanted to take the train. But that he was fine with taking the train. That’s the other story that I heard…”

He continued, “The question that everybody’s asking, why did this guy not take an Uber or a cab? When we were there, there were two occasions when we were in the UK where it was impossible to get an Uber. We opened up the app and it was ‘no drivers available.’ Maybe that happened to CM Punk, I don’t know…it is possible that he could not get an Uber.”

Alvarez also provided details on what happened after Jack Perry’s match with HOOK on the AEW All In 2023 “Zero Hour” pre-show. He stated,

“Jack goes through the curtain…He goes through the glass and they’re working on his cuts. This was shortly before the show was supposed to go on the air. CM Punk walks by and he says ‘do you have a problem with me?’ Jack Perry says something to the effect of ‘well, you heard what I said out there.’”

This led to Perry telling Punk that if he had a problem with what he said, he should do something about it. This led to pushes being exchanged, ending with Punk putting Perry in a choke. Samoa Joe broke things up.

AEW President Tony Khan reportedly witnessed the fight, and there are reports that it happened so close to him that several monitors were knocked onto him. Alvarez stated,

“CM Punk, according to several people said something to the effect of, ‘you know I can beat your ass, right?’ Then there was an incident. It was very quick…Pretty much 100 percent (of the witnesses said) Punk made the comment and either shoved of pie-faced Jungle Boy, grabbed him in the guillotine front headlock and it was immediately broken up. Samoa Joe was right there, everybody was right there. Nobody got their ass kicked, there was nothing like that.”

He continued, “They got close enough to Tony Khan that I believe monitors were knocked down onto Tony Khan. He was right there and he saw everything and a lot of people were right there and they saw everything.”

“Several people said he [CM Punk] threatened to quit and he didn’t want to go out for the match…I believe they went to FTR and The Young Bucks and they were like, ‘can you guys open the show?’ and the response was, ‘we’re not ready to open the show.’ Then they went to the six-man with Kenny and Hangman and all those guys and they were like, ‘can you open the show?’ and they were like, ‘I guess we can’ and so they were getting ready to go out. I was told that Joe was furious. He’s at Wembley, there’s 80,000 people there and he’s about to go out and apparently, he talked Punk into doing the match.”

Source: eWn

Tony Khan Allowing The AEW Roster To Skip Dynamite To Attend Bray Wyatt’s Services

There could be a few top names missing from this week’s or next week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, as Tony Khan is allowing any talents in his promotion who want to attend Bray Wyatt’s services to do just that.

According to a report from Fightful, Khan notified the entire roster on Monday that they are not required to attend AEW Dynamite if they want to attend the services for Windham Rotunda. The AEW President is more than willing to re-write episodes of Dynamite if need be.

As of this writing, there is no word on when Bray Wyatt’s services will be taking place but many talents who will be attending the services will need some travel time.

Source: eWn

Tony Khan – ‘Mark Briscoe’s Injury Changed Everything For ROH Death Before Dishonor 2023’

Speaking during a media call for Death Before Dishonor 2023, AEW President Tony Khan revealed that certain plans had to be altered due to Mark Briscoe’s recent injury.

Khan noted that he had hoped to get Eddie Kingston back from NJPW in time for Death Before Dishonor but the current situation didn’t permit the same.

You can check out some highlights from the media call below:

On the obstacles to Khan’s preferred plans for Death Before Dishonor: “I was hoping maybe even some possibility that Eddie could fly back to participate in Death Before Dishonor and then go back to Japan, and I certainly would have accommodated the travel if that was possible. It wasn’t possible. Mark Briscoe, I had slotted for something different on the card. It turned out that also was not viable for another reason. There have been so many things that came up and it can be like a domino effect. It’s very challenging. With Mark Briscoe’s injury, it was very challenging because Mark had been dealing with injuries for a while and I think some of us almost took it for granted because Mark is such a fighter and amazing person with an amazing spirit. People sympathize with Mark for many reasons, and he’s such a compelling wrestling character and always has been. I felt Mark could be an emotional hook for this pay-per-view in a lot of ways and it was a pivot. With Eddie going to Japan, I thought it would be cool with Eddie having a big moment winning the STRONG Championship and he passed on some wisdom to Mark Briscoe. I knew he was dealing with some injuries, but honestly, he had been dealing with them for a long time, and I think the pain had become too much to manage and it had become very challenging for him. To be honest, he hadn’t told many people about that, including our doctors. The people who knew really well knew he was hurting. I think Mark was no selling it. I know he was no selling the doctors on how much pain he was in. That’s why they were surprised that this had become a lifestyle challenge for him. When he came to me and said, ‘It’s worse than I was letting on. I’m not sure I can do this.’ That meant changing everything.”

On working around Briscoe’s injury: “If Mark comes to me and says he needs something, I’m going to do it, no matter what it is. If he needs time to heal up and needs me to pivot the pay-per-view, I’m going to do that for him, without questions. I’ll do it for pretty much anybody, but I’ll do it with a smile for Mark Briscoe. It meant changing pretty much everything again.”