Tony Khan Claps Back At Major AEW Criticism

The Jacksonville-based promotion and its CEO, Tony Khan, often get criticised by fans and critics for not having long-form storytelling on the product.

Long-form soap opera-like storytelling in wrestling promotions became common in the 90s with WWE and WCW, and their serialised continuity of the story arcs their characters were in became the norm in wrestling and began sharing almost more than half the importance when compared with the in-ring action itself.

Stories were what hooked casual viewers to the product, viewers who weren’t necessarily fans of the wrestling but would watch it to see a heated feud take shape or culminate.

Tony Khan and his promotion, AEW, which rivals WWE in the modern era, is often criticised by fans for not having long-form storytelling in the promotion and focusing specifically on the quality of the wrestling for entertainment. This makes casual viewers tune out, and the wrestling fans are left with great matches with mostly little story backing them, fans and critics feel.

Tony Khan Claps Back At AEW Criticism

Speaking with Jon Alba, Tony Khan responded to the criticism from fans, saying that it’s how the AEW product is supposed to be presented.

I think it’s best for AEW to tell stories and put on wrestling matches with a focus that is best described as authentic to AEW.

When asked what “Authentic to AEW” meant, Khan alluded to the company’s early years, which had many story arcs to go alongside the high-quality wrestling.

There are great stories that people could talk about at length if they’re AEW fans and want to point out that there were a lot of stories in the early AEW. Hangman and Kenny is a great example of that… If you look back at some of those early shows, you can see how great the wrestling was and how great the TV was.

Tony Khan also pressed on the fact that his AEW product in 2025 is not working on any template and is not trying to be like any other wrestling company. He believes that in 2025, AEW had great stories and great wrestling.

This year, I’ve been trying to make sure that the presentation is authentic to AEW — not trying to be like any other wrestling company. We can take the best wrestling we have and focus on the characters… and their relationships with each other, while still keeping the focus on the wrestling.

“You don’t have to sacrifice the wrestling to tell great stories, and we’ve shown that in 2025. I think we’ve had more great wrestling matches across TV and pay-per-views and told more interesting stories.”

h/t:ringsidenews.com

Also read: 3-Time World Champion May Join AEW After WWE Exit