Frustration In AEW Over Tony Khan Production Decisions
Tony Khan’s refusal to do production meetings before AEW shows has frustrated people in the company.
There was a match between Megan Bayne and Kris Statlander on AEW Dynamite in Phoenix. It was an even matchup most of the way until Penelope Ford showed up, shoved Statlander off the top rope (the referee never saw it) and Bayne capitalized with a spinning slam on Statlander for the pinfall win.
After the match, Penelope Ford went into the ring to attack Statlander with punches. Thunder Rosa made the save with a steel chair. What was awkward about the scene is that Rosa just stood there with the chair while Bayne and Ford were within a few feet of her, yet Rosa didn’t hit either woman with the chair.
That spot with Rosa, Bayne, and Ford was criticized by some fans because of how awkward it looked.
AEW’s Owner, CEO, General Manager, and Head of Creative Tony Khan oversees everything in his company, including the storylines that make it onto television. While Khan does delegate to other staff, he is unquestionably the person in charge of what fans see on AEW television.
“Why The F**k Don’t We Have Production Meetings?” – AEW Staff Regarding Tony Khan’s Decision Making
Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer revealed on a recent edition of Bryan & Vinny that people who work for AEW are frustrated that Tony Khan refuses to do production meetings, which is a way to make sure that there aren’t issues during the show.
“The bigger story here than this was just such a f**king disaster is not a week goes by, not one week goes by where I don’t hear from somebody in AEW saying, ‘Why the f**k don’t we have production meetings? We need production meetings. Things happen on every show where if we had a production meeting, they wouldn’t happen.’
But Tony [Khan] refuses to do production meetings, and here we are. This is another one.
What in the f**k happened here? Nobody knows. I didn’t get a single good explanation for it. It was just everybody was on a different page, and you made the babyface look like an absolute idiot, and away we go.”
It was recently reported that Tony Khan was very happy with the success of the AEW GRand Slam Australia show, which was well received by fans even though there was a lot of discussion about the smaller ring size.