Tony Khan Defends Decision To Let Matt Hardy Continue Wrestling At AEW All Out, Provides Update

Tony Khan is reassuring everyone after the Matt Hardy incident at AEW All Out that under no circumstances would AEW medical staff be pressured into clearing a performer.

Tonight, at AEW All Out, the match between Matt Hardy and Sammy Guevara was abruptly ended about as soon as it began because Matt Hardy hit his head off of a concrete floor after falling off of a scissor lift where both Guevara and Hardy crashed through a table with Hardy almost completely missing the table.

The match with abruptly come to a halt with referee Aubrey Edwards even calling the match off before the match would once again be restarted after Matt Hardy was checked by Dr. Sampson of AEW.

On the post-show media conference call, Tony Khan assured the media that there was enough time to check Hardy and make sure he was cleared to continue, and under no circumstances would Matt Hardy simply wanting to continue wrestling be enough of a driving force to overrule the doctors. 

“Yes, there was time. There was actually it was a good amount of time just then. So, yeah, there was,” Tony began. “The doctor did clear him. Matt did not pressure him and Dr. Sampson would not be pressured into clearing anybody. He’s pulled people from our shows without hesitation, whether it’s been over something with a blood test or with an injury. He’s really strict about that stuff and that’s why when people have had injuries that he didn’t feel comfortable about, people do in physicality or wrestling with, we never put those people out there. So I never would have gone against the doctor’s decision and most importantly, Matt would not have been able to overrule the doctor’s decision and not with the doctor himself or with me. So that is what happened. The doctor cleared him, which is the first and foremost important thing. Matt also did want to continue, but the doctor cleared him. So at that point when the doctor cleared him to continue, Matt clearly wanted to continue. That’s why we continued.”

Later on in the call, Tony was once again asked about Matt Hardy. This time, the question centered around the spot that would see Matt Hardy climbing scaffolding and whether or not it was safe due to the condition he was in. Tony once again defended the decision.

“I was extremely concerned about that because I knew that was going to happen. So, yeah, I did. I was very concerned about that. That’s why I paused it because I didn’t feel good until I got a clearance that this is definitely okay with you to do that and so that’s why I paused the match, which again, we’ve never done. But I thought given what was ahead and what he would probably want to be doing in this match, I would be very cautious by sending the doctor to check.”

He continued, “Like I said, it was a nervous moment and a scary moment. But that is why, knowing what these guys do and what they were thinking, I wanted to be sure that he was cleared to keep going.”

Matt Hardy’s wife, Reby was livid after the match took place and voiced her frustrations on social media. Learn more at this link.

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