Tony Khan Raises Eyebrows With Surprising AEW Assessment
The landscape of pro wrestling has changed greatly in the last few weeks but things have never been better for AEW according to Tony Khan.
Vince McMahon was told to resign from the TKO Board of Directors after a lawsuit was filed against him detailing horrific allegations of sexual assault and sex trafficking. McMahon’s departure likely spells the end of his affiliation with WWE despite vowing to fight the claims.
Scott D’Amore was fired as TNA president by the promotion’s owners Anthem leading to reports of unhappiness from some on the company’s roster.
Hiroshi Tanahashi has recently taken over as NJPW president as that company looks to rebuild in the wake of major stars such as Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada leaving. While STARDOM founder Rossy Ogawa was fired for allegedly trying to poach the promotion’s stars. Oagawa is looking to set up a new company with many of STARDOM’s competitors rumoured to be joining him when their contracts end in March.
Tony Khan Touts Exciting Time For AEW
Appearing on Sports Grid, Tony Khan was asked for his thoughts on the major changes at the top of WWE, TNA, NJPW, and STARDOM and while he admitted crazy things were happening, he’d rather focus on AEW, saying that it’s now the best it’s ever been:
“It’s a really exciting time for AEW right now. The company is doing some of our best wrestling ever. Right now is the best AEW has been. It’s an exciting time for the wrestling business.
There are a lot of crazy things happening. It’s a really important time in wrestling for a variety of reasons. Somethings outside of wrestling that are bigger than wrestling. For us, we’re doing the best wrestling we’ve done in AEW right now.
While the in-ring quality of Tony Khan’s AEW is subjective and no doubt acclaimed by most fans of the company, whether or not the company as a whole is at its best is a whole other issue.
Ticket sales have slumped badly for AEW in recent months with only the upcoming Revolution pay-per-view acting as an outlier in 2024. That show is likely to sell out as thousands of fans flock to Greensboro to see the final match in the career of Sting.
Tony Khan will surely be hoping two imminent arrivals can spur AEW back to the success it has had previously. Mercedes Mone looks to be set for a March debut in the company while reports suggest Kazuchika Okada is also about to become All Elite.