Tony Khan Wanted To Sign Popular AEW Star In 2019

Tony Khan is happy to have an injured AEW star back in the fold.

At ROH Final Battle, Bandido made a surprise return coming to the aid of Matt Cardona. The Mexican star had been out of action since June 2023 after undergoing multiple surgeries on a wrist injury.

In recent weeks, several vignettes aired hyping the star’s return, but no one was prepared to see his return at the Hammerstein Ballroom, least of all Chris Jericho and The Learning Tree.

After retaining his ROH World Title with a win over Cardona, Big Bill and Brian Keith continued the attack. This brought out Bandido who hit a dropkick to Jericho from top rope before continuing the fight.

The return wasn’t completely plain sailing however as during the dropkick his head bounced hard on the canvas and there were fears he was concussed, but after a quick check by the referee, he finished the segment as planned.

Tony Khan Is A Huge Fan Of Bandido

During the ROH Final Battle Media Scrum after the show, Tony Khan talked up the returning Bandido, revealing he originally wanted to sign him back in 2019 when AEW launched. However, the star decided to stay with Ring of Honor at the time.

Khan added that the star has become a “great asset” since coming under the AEW umbrella.

“We haven’t seen Bandido in action in a year and a half, so it was really great to see him back,” Tony Khan said. “When I first acquired ROH, Bandido had been the reigning champion and of course, we had the match to crown the undisputed ROH Champion, he was the lineal champion at the time.

“It was great to get Bandido, who actually missed Final Battle ’21 due to COVID and we crowned an interim champion and then we crowned the undisputed champion at my first-ever event, Supercard. That was my first time working with Bandido.

“I really wanted to sign Bandido when we first launched AEW. And he actually made a choice, he stuck with ROH. He became a great World Champion for them and then when things changed in the world of wrestling and I acquired the company, Bandido became a great asset to AEW and ROH.”

Final Battle also saw the return of Danhausen who hadn’t appeared for ROH or AEW since late 2023. In recent weeks it was reported that the star hadn’t been in regular contact with Tony Khan for around six months and had become frustrated with being kept on the sidelines.

H/t to WrestleZone