Tony Khan Defends Top Star After Forbidden Door Criticism

Tony Khan was quick to defend a Japanese legend after some criticized his performance at Forbidden Door.

At Forbidden Door, Hiroshi Tanahashi opened the show in a quest to defeat MJF for the AEW World Championship. MJF was able to retain, and after the bout, many fans took to social media with criticism of the Ace, noting that he looked to be slowing down as his in-ring days have taken a toll on his body.

Speaking on the most recent edition of Busted Open Radio, AEW President Tony Khan defended Tanahashi, calling the man a legend and praising him for continuing to fight through his obvious injuries.

“I think what you (show host) just said makes a lot of sense. It’s a vocal minority on social media.

“I think the vast majority of fans who follow the sport closely know that (Hiroshi) Tanahashi’s a legend, that it’s amazing that he’s fighting through these injuries and doing the best he can and yeah, he’s got bad knees and every once in a while, he might have a slip as he tries high-flying moves but in the end, he had an amazing fight on Collision, he had a great match, Tanahashi versus Swerve (Strickland) and he had a great match with MJF at the pay-per-view and not everything Tanahashi does is the same as it was 10 years ago or 15 years ago.

“But, Tanahashi is one of the great legends of the sport and certainly over the years, he’s accomplished so much and I know that, really, for us in AEW, we have so much respect for him and I think what you said makes a lot of sense but, you can’t let the opinion of a couple people get in the way of a great career of somebody like Tanahashi.”

h/t POST Wrestling