AEW Star Says Tony Khan Signed Them After Hearing About Possible WWE Deal
A current AEW star revealed that he had an offer to go to WWE, but Tony Khan stepped in to stop that from happening.
Tony Khan is the AEW founder, owner, CEO, GM and Head of Creative meaning that everything that happens in the company runs through him. Tony has a big say on what wrestlers get signed and of course, being Head of Creative means he runs the show in terms of what happens on AEW television.
Anthony Bowens of The Acclaimed tag team with Max Caster made his AEW in-ring debut on the October 6, 2020 episode of Dark that was taped on September 25th. He signed with AEW in November 2020. According to Bowens, he was able to choose between going to WWE or to AEW.
During an appearance on the “Chrissy Chaos” podcast, Bowens shared a story about how he had nearly agreed to go to WWE until Tony Khan and AEW stepped in.
“We weren’t there for the very first couple of months, weren’t there for the ground floor, but we are the foundation of AEW and it could have been the other way around. I found myself in a position where I was lucky enough to be able to choose, whether I went to WWE or AEW. Actually, I said yes to WWE, and then Tony [Khan] found out and flew me down there.”
Bowens would go on to reveal that he met Max Caster at the AEW tapings and they signed contracts shortly after that.
“That’s when I met Max, my tag team partner, Max Caster, for the first time and he was like, ‘Hey, we’ve got this idea for … or I got this idea for you to be The Acclaimed,’ and I was like, ‘That’s awesome.’ I don’t know what it is, but cool, that’s really awesome. We went out, we wrestled that night, and then he came back and he was like, ‘Here’s your contracts’ and I signed it right away.”
Tony Khan Has Featured The Acclaimed Heavily on AEW Programming
It was about one year ago when The Acclaimed’s popularity exploded due to their “Scissor Me, Daddy Ass” promo with Billy Gunn and the “Scissoring” hand gesture. They would go on to win the AEW Tag Team Titles during the AEW Grand Slam episode of Dynamite last September and had a 140-day reign as the Tag Team Champions.
Since losing the AEW Tag Team Titles in February, The Acclaimed have teamed with Billy Gunn in Trios Tag Team Matches, but that might not happen again since Billy recently retired…perhaps for real. The Acclaimed are regularly featured on Collision on Saturdays currently.