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Tony Khan
- Bio:
- The owner of AEW and its chief creative force, Tony Khan has taken the wrestling world by storm and finally given WWE a major competitor in the North American wrestling market. His promotion may still be new, but who knows what heights it can reach.
- Birthdate:
- 1982-10-10
- Birthplace:
- Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, United States
- Birthname:
- Antony Rafiq Khan
- Notable Rivals:
- Triple H
- Twitter:
- https://x.com/TonyKhan?s=20
- Instagram:
- https://www.instagram.com/tonyrkhan/?hl=en
- Eye Color:
- Brown
- Hair Color:
- Brown
Highlights
- Khan promotes AEW at NFL Draft, slams WWE, compares them to Harvey Weinstein, igniting fan backlash and controversy.
- Blurring kayfabe and reality, Khan wears neck brace to sell fake injury at NFL Draft, receives criticism for pettiness towards WWE.
- Despite drumming up attention for AEW, Khan’s controversial comments and actions may backfire, hurting the company in the long run.
Tony Khan is stirring up the wrestling masses with his recent comments on NFL Network. Interviewed by the program during the NFL Draft, Khan was selling his kayfabe injury he suffered at the hands of The Young Bucks at the end of this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite. Attending the NFL Draft wearing a neck brace, he was getting some great publicity for AEW and potentially drumming up interest in a show that has struggled in the ratings of late.
Khan took the prime opportunity to promote AEW and bashed WWE. He commented on the war being waged between the two companies, referring to WWE as the evil juggernaut that AEW is up against and then made two references that have fans flooding to social media to respond. He said:
“AEW, we’ve been doing this for five years, we are the most successful sports start up since the AFL, pre-merger. There has not been a challenger brand that has gained as much market share as AEW in many many years. We are like the Pepsi of pro wrestling. We’re up against an evil juggernaut. WWE is our competitor, that’s who we’re facing. AEW, like the Pepsi of pro wrestling. WWE is like the Harvey Weinstein of pro wrestling. I’m really proud of what we do down here.”
The Weinstein comment made the hosts of the show uncomfortable. Whether Khan was referring to Weinstein because he was in the news recently because his rape charge was overturned, or to somehow connect Weinstein to former WWE owner Vince McMahon isn’t clear. It appears he’s suggesting WWE is getting away with allegedly heinous acts or a link to Vince, even though McMahon is no longer associated with the company. Either way, the subject of Weinstein was a bit awkward and many fans thought the comments crossed the line. Comparing the entire company to someone like Weinstein might have been out of line.
Others pointed out that Khan was quick to put Ric Flair on AEW programming, despite several allegations against Flair of inappropriate conduct.
Tony Khan Wears A Neck Brace At The NFL Draft; Pat McAfee Mentions AEW Attack
Tony Khan blurred the lines between kayfabe and reality by wearing a brace to sell his injuries at the NFL Draft!
Khan also called AEW the Pepsi or pro wrestling, suggesting they were going up against Coca-Cola. Of course, fans were quick to point out that CM Punk has a Pepsi tattoo and this wasn’t a coincidence.
Khan Is Becoming a PR Issue
To many, the fact that Khan can’t seem to get over the pettiness that is his beef with WWE is going to be his downfall. His product is struggling, the ratings are down, the PPV buys are decreasing and he seems hell-bent on creating more drama when he’s got a golden opportunity to talk about his own product and pump it up in a positive way.
He took all sorts of heat on Thursday and Friday for going to the extent of wearing the neckbrace during the NFL Draft but not selling the injury by turning his head repeatedly. Many believe the interview on NFL Network was done simply to laugh at Khan’s expense. The fact that Tony is creating as much controversy as he can to get the word out about AEW isn’t the worst strategy, but he’s bringing attention to WWE and fans are negatively responding to his comments. It’s bound to backfire.
