Tag: Tony Khan

Jack Perry And The Elite Destroy Tony Khan In Closing Segment Of AEW Dynamite

After an eight-month absence from AEW television, Jack Perry returned on “AEW Dynamite,” hitting the ring in the main event segment to ask AEW President Tony Khan to shake his hand, reinstate him, and “continue to change the world together.” Perry got all that he asked for and more, punching Khan in the stomach and setting him up for further damage at the hands of The Elite.

Perry, who was last seen in AEW at All In in August of 2023 before Sunday’s surprise appearance at Dynasty, showed up with The Young Bucks and Kazuchika Okada at the start of tonight’s show, walking into the arena through the back and eventually ending up in Khan’s office. Later in the show, it was revealed that Perry and Khan would meet in the ring, setting the stage for the latter’s first physical involvement in the company’s five-year history.

Beginning the segment by addressing the Jacksonville crowd by saying he’s had some of the best times in his life there, Perry pivoted in saying that they had business to handle and that he wanted to do it face to face with Khan. After Perry admitted that the two have had ups and downs, not always seeing eye to eye, the former Jungle Boy said, “I swear to God, the only thing I have ever wanted is what’s best for AEW.” The two would then embrace, raising each other’s hands before Perry’s attack, and ultimately, The Young Bucks finishing Khan off with none other than the TK Driver.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1783488633615573029

As the show went off air, a slew of AEW stars rushed toward the ring and to Khan’s side, along with Shahid Khan, Tony’s father, and AEW co-owner, who looked stunned and concerned for his fallen son.

Backstage News On How Hard Tony Khan Is Selling Attack From The Elite On AEW Dynamite

Fightful Select reports that its sources in AEW say Khan didn’t simply sell the attacks on-camera, but has since been selling his resulting storyline injury as well. The upcoming Parking Lot Brawl between Trent Barretta and Chuck Taylor was filmed early on Thursday, and their sources say Khan was on set during the match, seen wearing a neck brace. Some have also questioned if Khan will be seen with the brace in the coming days during the NFL Draft, but for now it’s unknown if he will do so.

Khan’s involvement in the angle seems to have positioned Perry as an even bigger heel than he was before his suspension. Interestingly, while his heel turn was originally welcomed, he still received a significant amount of criticism. Since his return to wrestling and embracing his role in CM Punk’s AEW departure, it seems like fans are now warming up to him as a believable villain, especially after last night. Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer also recently gave their takes on the heel version of The Elite, noting how Perry has sold lots of merch lately. However, both the veterans criticized Perry for directly referencing Punk, considering that he’s no longer signed to AEW. Bully also questioned Perry’s heel turn, and suggested that he should’ve actually been a babyface since Punk was the one who got physical first.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Tony Khan Provides Update On Kenny Omega’s AEW Status, Won’t Set Timetable For Return

AEW President Tony Khan has opened up about how former AEW World Champion Kenny Omega is doing and if a return might be on the cards for him. Omega was taken out of action indefinitely at the end of 2023 after being diagnosed with diverticulitis, an illness that could have been fatal had Omega not seen doctors when he did.

“The Cleaner” has since been spotted on Twitch where he has been streaming video games and talking wrestling, and seems in high spirits which has got a lot of people feeling good about seeing him return to the ring. Khan shares this optimism with the fans as he stated in an interview with “ComicBook Nation” that, while he would love to see Omega back in action, he doesn’t want to rush things. 

“We miss Kenny Omega very much,” Khan said. “Hopefully he will be back with us soon and certainly I think the fans will be clamoring for his return and there will be a massive ovation if and when Kenny Omega does come back to AEW. I don’t want to put pressure on it, he was really in a bad way and I don’t want to put a timetable or try to rush him back. But I’m optimistic we’ll see Kenny Omega again and certainly, it’s something for all the fans to look forward to. I think everybody’s going to go crazy when Kenny does come back, which I think we’re all very optimistic about.”

When Omega does come back, he will have to deal with the drama of The Young Bucks, who publicly fired him from The Elite on an episode of “AEW Dynamite” in March 2024 after they said he was not making any of his dates for no good reason.

Source: Wrestling Inc. credit to ComicBook Nation

Backstage Report On AEW Head Tony Khan Meeting With President Of STARDOM

There was plenty of big business happening onscreen at “AEW Dynamite: Big Business” last night, but there was also just as much happening offscreen. That’s because AEW owner Tony Khan met with STARDOM President Taro Okada, which in turn led to STARDOM star Mina Shirakawa wrestling Anna Jay in a Ring of Honor match before “Big Business” hit airwaves.

If it all seems to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship between AEW and STARDOM, that’s because it is. On this morning’s “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Dave Meltzer confirmed that the plan, at the moment, is for STARDOM talent, along with New Japan and CMLL talent, to be part of this year’s edition of Forbidden Door, signaling an alliance between AEW and the Joshi promotion. In addition, it’s also believed Shirakawa and former High Speed Champion will be working ROH Supercard of Honor at WrestleMania weekend in three weeks time.

The new relationship between AEW and STARDOM appears to correlate with the departure of STARDOM founder and promoter Rossy Ogawa, who was fired from the promotion in early February. Ogawa’s firing was subsequentially celebrated by Khan, which was said to be Khan showing loyalty to STARDOM and its new regime. Ogawa has since revealed he will be starting his own promotion, with former STARDOM star Giulia expected to join him for a few months before signing with WWE.

With Shirakawa’s appearance on ROH, she becomes the first STARDOM talent to appear in either AEW/ROH as part of the new alliance between AEW and STARDOM, and the second STARDOM star to appear in AEW/ROH. Former World of Stardom Champion Utami Hayashishita had previously appeared for ROH in July 2023, defeating Trish Adora in singles action.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage News On Why Meat Madness Match Was Pulled From AEW Revolution PPV Card

Ever since the match between Miro and Powerhouse Hobbs at AEW All Out 2023, All Elite Wrestling fans have become accustomed to hearing the word “meat” during matches where two of the company’s heaviest hitters go at it. That love of meat was going to be taken to another level at the upcoming AEW Revolution pay-per-view as Tony Khan announced that a “Meat Madness” would take place between Hobbs, Lance Archer, and Wardlow. However, just before the February 28th edition of “AEW Dynamite,” Khan took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to announce that the match was cancelled due to injuries to the participants, with the new All-Star Eight-Man Scramble announced in its place. Oddly, Hobbs, Archer, and Wardlow were all quickly announced for the scramble, leading to questions about who, exactly, had been injured.

Fightful Select dug a little deeper in to the matter and reported that, contrary to an injury to any of the announced participants, Khan had planned to add other wrestlers to the mix, but they ended up being unavailable for Revolution. As of this writing, the names of the planned additions and the reasons for their unavailability remain unknown. Fightful also reported that more elements were going to be a part of the “madness,” but those elements will have to wait for another time.

 later on this year. Joining the original three participants in the All-Star Eight Man Scramble, the winner of which receives a shot at the AEW World Championship, are Chris Jericho, FTW Champion Hook, and Brian Cage, with the final two spots to be filled on the upcoming episodes of “AEW Rampage” and “AEW Collision.” CMLL’s Magnus will face Matt Sydal on “Rampage” for one spot, while Penta El Zero Miedo, Bryan Keith, and Dante Martin will fight it out for the final spot this Saturday on “Collision,” the night before Revolution.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Revolution Match Canceled Due To Injuries, Tony Khan Announces Replacement

AEW fans are going to have to wait just a little bit longer for Meat Madness.

AEW President Tony Khan announced on X (formerly Twitter) that due to multiple wrestlers being either injured or unable to be cleared by AEW medical staff the Meat Madness Match, originally slated for this Sunday’s Revolution PPV, was “on ice.” Khan has announced the match will be replaced with an All-Star Scramble Match. There is no word on which participants in Meat Madness are injured. Wardlow, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Lance Archer were scheduled for the match. According to Wikipedia, the match was possibly supposed to have more men added, but the match was recently referred to as a three-way match, so the injury or injuries may be to the announced participants, but nothing is confirmed. There is no word on who will be taking part in the Scramble Match.

Wardlow has not wrestled since his February 14 win over Barrett Brown, where Wardlow appeared to tweak his knee. Hobbs appears to be in fine condition, as the former AEW TNT Champion wrestled on last Saturday’s “AEW Collision,” where he defeated Sammy Guevara. Archer also recently competed at the most recent taping of “AEW Rampage,” competing on the March 1 episode which was taped on February 24.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW CEO Tony Khan Blasts WWE Raw Angle In Heated Social Media Posts, Talent Respond

AEW President Tony Khan has often said that he is a wrestling fan first and foremost, and that he approaches wrestling from a fan’s perspective. Khan’s focus on win-loss records apparently isn’t limited to All Elite Wrestling, as Khan has been keeping tabs on the wins and losses of WWE stars as well — including that of former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal, who will wrestle Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship on next week’s “WWE Raw.”

“A double standard,” an impassioned Khan wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “[Hook] 28-1 career record, on winning streak calls out the champ, a logical challenge sparks online outrage. Jinder has literally lost every single match he’s in for the past year, immediately gets title shot, where is the rage?”

https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1744835296007483750

Not satisfied with just one outburst, Khan then took his war against Mahal to USA Network directly.

“A moral victory for USA is one win more than their World Title challenger Jinder Mahal has in the past 364 days… because it’s been literally a full year since he won a match,” Khan wrote, quote-tweeting a post from the night before in which the USA Network’s official account made a joke about Cagematch, Khan’s oft-cited source for the quality of his programming. “You really put AEW in our place getting Jinder Mahal in a big match on your tv show. Do it more often.”

https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1744835475901227380

Khan’s tweets didn’t go unnoticed. WWE broadcaster Corey Graves was quick to tweet in support of Jinder, much to the delight of WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray. Former AEW World Tag Team Champion Dax Harwood seemingly fired back to Graves’s tweet by sending a similar message, but in support of Hook. Meanwhile, Mahal himself took to Twitter to ask simply, “Who tf is Hook?”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

UPDATE:

AEW President adding Eric Bischoff to the list of his victims.

The Khan/Bischoff feud started when “Eazy E” took to his Twitter account to call Tony Khan a “clown” for his tweet comparing HOOK and Mahal’s recent attempts to get their respective companies’ World Title shots. Khan wound up posting a GIF that reads, “Get out of my sight, you miserable has-been!”

https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1744843056711413829
https://twitter.com/EBischoff/status/1744864616231170299
https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1744866676347126034

AEW Boss Tony Khan Addresses WWE/WBD Rumors

Rumors have circulated about the possibility of WWE moving “WWE Raw” from The USA Network to a Warner Bros Discovery channel, possibly TBS or TNT, which would put them in conflict with WBD’s current wrestling product, All Elite Wrestling. As a major year for media rights negotiations, in wrestling and beyond, AEW President Tony Khan is seemingly unfazed by the rumors.

“It’s part of sports. Everybody discusses contracts and free agency and things of that nature,” Khan told “Going Ringside” on News4JAX. “I think everybody’s aware that everybody’s gonna be talking to everybody in the media this coming year. So they’ll certainly be a lot of opportunities. We have a great history with Warner Bros. Discovery and continue to produce great ratings so we should be in a very good position next year.”

WBD’s negotiations with both WWE and AEW are likely hamstrung by the media conglomerate’s current negotiations with the National Basketball Association, as NBA programming has been the central pillar of the Turner Networks programming and the amount of money offered to either promotion would likely be affected by whether or not WBD retains the Basketball league. AEW has been with WBD since the beginning of the wrestling promotion, which premiered “AEW Dynamite” on WBD networks in 2019, soon adding “AEW Collision,” “AEW Rampage,” and quarterly “Battle of the Belts” specials.

WWE has already signed a deal with The CW to bring “WWE NXT” there in 2025 when its current deal with USA is up, and USA has already landed the rights to “WWE SmackDown,” which is set to move from Fox.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Tony Khan Comments On MJF’s AEW Future Following His Removal From The AEW Roster Page

MJF hasn’t been seen on AEW television since last weekend’s Worlds End pay-per-view. At the time, it was reported that his contract was set to expire on January 1, leading to speculation that he could leave the promotion. MJF’s profile has since been removed from the AEW roster page, and Tony Khan is choosing to remain tight-lipped about the star’s current status.

“I can say that MJF certainly has been a great part of AEW for the first five years, Khan told Going Ringside. “And through those five years, certainly, he’s been one of our great homegrown stars, and he’s somebody we really value, and I would love to have MJF in AEW in the future, should the contractual situation allow.”

While Khan’s comments suggest that MJF has yet to sign a new deal with AEW, he might have already. It was recently reported that he extended his AEW stay before January 1, and the ambiguities surrounding his future are being played up for storyline purposes. The latest episode of “AEW Dynamite” saw Adam Cole and the Undisputed Kingdom discuss their desire to rid AEW of MJF once and for all, so there is a built-in storyline for him to return to, should his future be with Tony Khan’s promotion.

Regardless of his future destination in wrestling, it remains to be seen when the former AEW World Champion will return to action. MJF is currently injured after suffering a torn labrum, which could require surgery and put him on the shelf for six months. That said, it’s unknown if MJF will go that route or seek alternative treatment options that will allow him to return to screens before then.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

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.