Tony Khan Addresses AEW Stars' Use Of Social Media And External Income Platforms

AEW CEO Tony Khan has addressed where his promotion stands on talent using social media to generate additional income. This has become a hot topic in the world of pro wrestling following the WWE release of Mandy Rose. Despite holding the "WWE NXT" Women's Championship for over a year, Rose was dropped from the company shortly after losing the title to Roxanne Perez on the December 13 episode. It was first reported by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful that Rose had been released by WWE due to her racy content on FanTime. Rose's agent, Malki Kawa, told TMZ Sports that the former WWE superstar has made $500,000 since her firing.

In the midst of the Rose situation, TV Insider asked Khan what his stance is on AEW stars taking to social media to profit off their own content. "I try to be flexible with the wrestlers and staff utilizing their personal social media," Khan said. "I certainly recognize they are leading their own lives the other five days of the week when they're not wrestling. They are representing the company as great wrestlers of AEW, but they are also all independent people with separate lives. I try to give people that peace of mind that I'm not trying to be 'Big Brother' trying to change everything they do in their life. It's a balance. We just want people to promote AEW when they can and do their best to help us grow our wrestling business."

It's been reported that WWE has not closed the door on a potential Rose return in the future. Whether or not she'll eventually make a comeback remains to be seen, but if Kawa's income claims are true, she may not be in a rush to shut down her FanTime account.