Tony Khan Explains Why He Doesn’t Show Up On AEW TV

Recently, Tony Khan explained why he doesn’t want to appear on AEW television, saying that he doesn’t want to become a regular character on the promotion’s programming.

One of the big differences between AEW and WWE is that the latter has their authority figure historically being on-screen. Being the owner of AEW, some believed that Tony Khan would appear more on AEW TV, however, it’s happened very few times since the company’s launch in 2019.

Altogether, Tony Khan has only shown up four times on AEW programming, with one of the appearances being recently to announce the Grand Slam Tournament of Champions after he vacated the AEW World Championship from CM Punk, as well as the AEW World Trios Championship from The Elite. The vacancies happened after AEW’s All Out pay-per-view backstage brawl that took place following Punk’s comments at the post-show media scrum.

With the exception of those four appearances, however, Khan hasn’t shown up at all.

Tony Khan appeared on BT Sport for an interview with Ariel Helwani, and during so, he explained why he doesn’t show up on AEW TV that much.

“I am a device. And when it is necessary, it can be a very effective one. And we’ve done 160 episodes, I have made all of four appearances in 160 episodes, all of them did about a million. Some of them were, really every time, they were very necessary. Some involve a little bit of talking, some involved really none.

The only four times I’ve been on the show, were you know, the most regrettable was at the end of the Brodie Lee tribute show. And then there was the purchase of Ring of Honor, there was the announcement of the Forbidden Door, and there was the announcement of the Grand Slam Tournament of Champions. Some of these did over a million, but it’s not like I’m a big hamper on the TV.

But it’s also not like a device I go to very often unless it’s absolutely necessary. So four times out of 160 we’re showing up on a very, very low percentage of the shows. So if I’m on, you know, a couple percent, 98% of the time, you’re not going to see me. And I think that’s important to note.”

The controversy in AEW hasn’t slowed down at all, with Tony Khan recently dealing with multiple backstage altercations. With the drama between CM Punk and The Elite, it’s being reported that the investigation into the episode has slowed down, this because of non-cooperation from one party involved. They are also reportedly threatening legal action.

H/T to Inside The Ropes for the transcription.