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Tony Khan Reveals He “Can’t Renew All Of The Contracts”

By TJR Staff • Published 10th February 2022
Tony Khan speaks in the ring

Tony Khan has admitted that he won’t be able to renew everyone’s contract following the signing of multiple new wrestlers to AEW over the last few months.

AEW and its roster have evolved over the three years since the company was announced in early 2019. Although ring veterans such as Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks remain heavily featured, other names who were in the company at the beginning have not been seen in recent months, including the likes Joey Janella and Marko Stunt.

As the promotion has expanded, especially throughout 2021, there has been a rise in big-money signings with huge names like CM Punk, Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole having become All Elite in recent months.

This has led some to wonder whether AEW’s roster has become too big and has led to wrestlers getting lost in the shuffle.

In a new interview with Scott Fishman of TVInsider, AEW President Tony Khan has discussed these concerns. He explained that, while he tried to be considerate to those under contract during the pandemic, with so many new wrestlers joining the company, it’s impossible to renew everyone’s contract.

“When we started a lot of people had contracts that were a couple of years long and a lot of them are coming up. I have really tried hard to be very considerate of the people on the roster, especially going through the pandemic.

“That encompassed a long period of time where we were still in our first year of television and going into our second. I kept a lot of people under contract even though I wasn’t necessarily using them on television because I wanted them to still have paying work, which was hard to come by for wrestling during the pandemic where there weren’t any independent shows.

“Really only two places were running and the other place was cutting people left and right. I did want to give some job security to people. Now with so many wrestlers coming in, I can’t renew all the contracts. I’ve had to make some tough choices based on ability, fan response, or both. I try to maintain the best roster I can for the company and fans.”

On the February 9th episode of Dynamite, AEW’s latest big signing was revealed to be Keith Lee.

The former WWE Superstar received a huge ovation from the AEW faithful as soon as he stepped out of the tunnel. Lee made his intentions known within seconds as he launched Kassidy across the ring. While Kassidy tried his best to fight back using his superior speed, Lee’s incredible power was just too much to overcome.

The ‘Limitless One’ ended the match with a massive powerslam to claim a spot in the upcoming Face of the Revolution Ladder match. After the bout, Lee added to his win by taking out both members of Private Party as they looked for revenge.