Tony Khan Says WWE Asked AEW Stars To Break Contract
AEW CEO Tony Khan says that some of his talents have told him that WWE reached out to them to ask them to break their AEW contracts.
Wrestling wars are nothing new and the latest iteration for fans to debate over is WWE vs. AEW. While several stars have jumped ship from WWE to AEW during its short existence, the sports entertainment giant fought back when it brought Cody Rhodes back into the fold at WrestleMania 38 in 2022.
Speaking on The Dan Le Batard Show, Tony Khan has suggested that more AEW stars could have defected if WWE had their way as he says talents have told him that they were asked to break their contracts:
“I can’t really comment on what their internal struggles, internal strifes are because I don’t work there and I’m not there. I can only speak to the challenges we’ve had. I’ve got a lot of wrestlers who come to me and allege that WWE reached out to them to tamper with their contracts and ask them to break their contracts. I can’t confirm that specifically.”
“I can only tell you what the wrestlers have come to me and said, but I’ve had multiple wrestlers and staff report that to me. It was very disturbing. I’ve had to go out and try to put on good shows despite this alleged tampering, and stuff like that. Frankly, I don’t think it’s stopped us because the quality of the product and the quality of the shows is at an all-time high right now.”
“The wrestling business is very dirty. I can’t speak to the fight business but certainly, I think it’s more organized than the fight business. As far as there’s two, I think, well-organized promotions competing with each other.”
“Again, I don’t know if these things have happened. I only know what people have come to me and alleged. But, I do know it’s a real war between AEW and WWE.”