Tony Khan “Wasn’t Very High” On Top AEW Star

Tony Khan took some convincing before getting on board with a top WWE star.

In the early days of AEW in 2019, EVPs the Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes played a huge role in building the talent roster alongside Tony Khan.

This saw the company sign a number of independent stars The Bucks had worked with previously, such as the Best Friends who were heavily featured on television as Dynamite took to the airwaves.

However, it seems that Tony Khan needed more convincing with some talents than others before he allowed them to become All Elite.

Tony Khan Wasn’t Sold On Top Star

During an appearance on Social Suplex’s Tunnel Talk, Nick Jackson reflected on his and Matt’s friendships with the Best Friends and several other names from their time with CHIKARA. Nick added that they had to sell Khan on Orange Cassidy back in 2019, as the AEW boss wasn’t initially convinced.

“Chuck Taylor, of course, we’ve been good buddies with him since the CHIKARA days as well. It’s funny, there is a lot of the CHIKARA guys backstage to this day. Bryce Remsberg is another one, we’ve always been friends with him too,” said Jackson.

“A lot of those guys, we specifically hired because of our CHIKARA days with them. I remember that Tony [Khan] wasn’t very high on Orange Cassidy at first so we had to kind of sell him on him for a little bit. And I remember Tony saying: ‘You guys were right.’”

During the same interview, the Young Bucks admitted they deliberately had bad matches throughout 2024 as they wanted to lean into the heelish personas. Nick went on to accuse fans of “falling for the gimmick” and thinking their in-ring skills had genuinely declined.

Back in October, it was announced that the Young Bucks would compete at Wrestle Dynasty inside the Tokyo Dome, marking their first match in Japan since leaving NJPW in 2019. At the event, the Jackson brothers will challenge for the vacant IWGP Tag Team Championship.