Tony Khan Names Top AEW Star He Would Want To Run Company In His Absence

Tony Khan has very specific instructions on who should be trusted to make decisions for AEW.

As President of AEW, Tony Khan is ultimately responsible for final decision-making within the company. Speaking in a new interview with the Hollywood Reporter ahead of AEW All In, Khan opened up about who should be trusted to make decisions if he were ever unavailable, and he had one specific name in mind: Bryan Danielson.

“He hasn’t been around as much lately, because he’s been recovering from an injury. But if I got hit by a bus, or if I was ever incapacitated for some reason, the person I told my father that he should turn to is Bryan Danielson.”

Danielson and Khan are known to work closely together behind the scenes, and in recent months has reportedly begun to have more influence on creative decisions in the company.

Bryan Danielson Loves Working With Tony Khan

Speaking in a media scrum after Double or Nothing in May of 2023, Danielson was asked about rumors of his role on AEW’s creative team, and he opened up about what it’s like to work under Tony Khan’s regime. He was full of praise for the AEW President, saying the two have similar views on wrestling and that working together is extremely fun. Danielson said:

“I love working with Tony and I love working in AEW. It’s a lot of fun because, sometimes, before I even got here, Tony and I would talk on the phone sometimes for an hour-and-a-half to two hours and we’d just be talking about things and wrestling and that sort of thing. I think we have a lot of similar ideas on wrestling, and sometimes he says things to me and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a great idea,’ and we riff off each other really well. When we do it, it doesn’t feel like work. When you love wrestling, stuff like that is fun.” (h/t WrestlingInc)