Tony Khan: Having People Who Don’t Get Along Isn’t Ideal, But It’s A Reality

Tony Khan comments on backstage disagreements. 

For almost a year, CM Punk and The Elite (Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks) have been on the opposite sides of the AEW roster with Punk anchoring AEW Collision upon returning to the promotion in June. Omega and the Bucks have been staples on AEW Dynamite and have yet to appear on Collision. 

The issues between the two sides came to a head at AEW All Out 2022 when a backstage altercation took place after Punk made comments towards the group during his media scrum. 

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Tony Khan was asked about managing tensions ahead of AEW All In when all parties will be in the same building. 

“The most important thing to me as the CEO is the wrestling fans. I’m a huge wrestling fan, and I try to think like a wrestling fan. I want the best wrestlers here in AEW. I want the best roster. And there may be some of them that don’t get along with each other backstage or on TV. It’s not ideal, but it’s a reality, and I can’t make everyone get along. I’m not sure it’s necessarily even in the best interest of pro wrestling for everybody t get along. But ideally, everybody is going to be able to focus on their matches and putting on the best shows for the fans. And I think that’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve had really strong ratings. So even though … wrestlers backstage hate each other and don’t want to be friends with each other, I think we all agree this is a really exciting time for the company. And it’s a really exciting time for the wrestling business and for the wrestling fans,” he said.

Khan continued, “There are a lot of people around here who think they’re the best. And I think a lot of them have a valid claim that they’re the best. And what I’m trying to do is to create an environment where everybody can go out and prove it multiple times per week and create a platform where the fans can decide who the best wrestlers are, what the best rivalries are, what the best matches are. As long as I can keep the top talent in AEW, we will have the best matches and the best big events. The lineup of wrestlers competing on AEW All In is the strongest group of talent we’ve ever assembled on one show, it features some of the biggest matches in the history of this company, and I think it’s going to be one of the greatest days ever in pro wrestling this Sunday.”

Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, The Young Bucks, and CM Punk are all scheduled to compete at AEW All In. 

Fans can check out the current lineup for the show by clicking here. 

Fightful will have coverage of AEW All In on August 27.