Jim Ross On Tony Khan’s Most Challenging Time Booking AEW
Tony Khan has largely reacted well to adversity throughout his tenure AEW booker, but the legendary Jim Ross can name at least one moment when he found himself challenged.
Tony Khan has often been praised for his booking strategy within All Elite Wrestling. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has voted him as the Promoter of the Year since 2019 and the Booker of the Year since 2020. Right now, though, Khan isn’t doing too well against the hardships – either that or he’s hiding it well.
He’s currently without an All Out main event following Jon Moxley and CM Punk’s title unification match airing on Dynamite rather than a pay-per-view headliner. Speaking of the situation on his Grilling JR podcast, legendary announcer Jim Ross described it as the biggest challenge Khan has ever thought in his short wrestling career:
“I don’t know that, as a booker, that Tony Khan has had a bigger…these next few weeks, the last week and the weeks leading through the pay-per-view, he’s never had any bigger challenge to him than that. What do you do? I’m anxious to see what the brain trust comes up with as far as creative is concerned. I have confidence that he will, but they have a lot of options, a lot of ways to go.
Do you re-incorporate MJF? What do you do with Punk and Moxley? How long are they going to be ripe on the vine? All these things. Most bookers would probably embrace everything I just said because it gives them so many ways to go. Hell, I didn’t even know Punk had an issue with our cowboy, ‘Hangman’ [Adam Page].
Part of that interview the other day. I was like, ‘What? Did I miss something in the production meeting?’ Of course, we don’t go over the promos in the production meeting, which is good, and nobody writes Punk. Nobody writes anybody’s promo. You just go do it.”
It’s rumoured that Jon Moxley and CM Punk will again collide for the AEW World Championship at All Out, regardless of their three-minute contest on Wednesday’s Dynamite.