News

How Tony Khan Helped Top AEW Star Land Movie Role

By John Canton • Published 24th March 2025
Tony Khan AEW

Tony Khan played a big part in one of AEW’s biggest names getting a significant role in a movie.

The “Queen of the Ring” film starring Mildred Burke is in theatres around the world and it features several people who are currently involved in pro wrestling.

One of the women in a key role in the film is the current AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm, who plays Clara Mortensen.

Over the past two years, Storm has grown as a performer in AEW by portraying the “Timeless” Toni Storm character, who acts as if she’s a throwback to a previous generation. Along the way, she went from being a hated character to one of the most popular wrestlers in AEW.

Tony Khan is AEW’s Owner, CEO, GM, and Head of Creative who works closely with Storm on AEW programming. Khan reached out to Ash Avildsen to suggest Storm for a role in the film due to her incredible acting ability.

While speaking to the Battleground Podcast, Tony Khan discussed his conversations with Avildsen about getting Storm in the film.

“I talked to Ash at the beginning when he was working on this movie. He asked me about casting Toni Storm.

Toni Storm is the greatest actress in Hollywood, so I was very supportive of it. We have other people in AEW involved in the project, but Toni Storm is the AEW Women’s World Champion, first and foremost. She’s the person I think of when I think of Hollywood and when I think of pro wrestling and they fit like a glove.

I talked to Ash for about an hour on the phone when he was first working on the movie before he cast Toni in the movie. He reached out to me about it and I worked around the schedule. Toni needed to take a little time off for filming. This was a long time ago and it all worked out just absolutely fantastic.”

Other wrestling women in the film include AEW’s Kamille as June Byers, Mickie James as Fabulous Moolah, Naomi as Ethel Johnson, and AEW’s Britt Baker as Debbie Nichols.

Tony Khan Ready To Celebrate AEW Passing WCW Milestone

It was announced by Tony Khan on social media that the 289th episode of AEW Dynamite will be a special one because it will be the night when they pass WCW Monday Nitro in terms of number of episodes. Khan is calling it AEW Spring BreakThru.

Don’t miss Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite 289, Wednesday, April 16 in Boston, AEW Spring BreakThru! We’ll celebrate AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite becoming the longest running prime time weekly pro wrestling program in Turner Sports history! Thank you all watching #AEWCollision NOW!

H/T WrestlingInc