Tony Khan Names Which AEW Gimmick He Was Not A Fan Of

On a recent episode of Rasslin' with Brandon F. Walker AEW President Tony Khan and Orange Cassidy came on to promote AEW's upcoming shows across the country. During the interview Khan discussed what other surprises he has planned for AEW throughout the year.

"I have a lot of stuff up my sleeve," exclaimed Khan. "I have a lot of stuff. I'm not going to bullsh*t you. I have a lot of stuff up my sleeve for the next year. Nobody knows. It's going to be a big year."

Khan also discussed the attitude that AEW has when it comes to mistakes. Khan said that AEW tries to quickly correct mistakes when they make them and noted that not every idea will be perfect and well-received.

"If we make a mistake, I like to think we do a good job pivoting off it," noted Khan. "There have been stuff that was not perfect and you don't always get stuff right. But the key is to not double-down, triple-down, or quadruple-down [on it] if something doesn't work. I like to say I have my finger on the pulse [of wrestling]. Nobody bats a thousand. But if you're throwing a pitch [in baseball] and it keeps getting crushed, don't keep throwing the same pitch. Maybe switch it up. And there have been times like that."

Khan then went on to list Matt Hardy's Broken gimmick as an example of an idea that Khan wasn't personally into. He recounted the filming of an episode and went on to say that Chris Jericho and Hardy both talked Khan into doing the teleportation scenes. Khan then went on to praise Hardy's ability to evolve since then and said he is a major part of AEW.

"A great example I think would be, and he would be totally fine with me saying this, I was not as into Broken Matt Hardy as other people were," admitted Khan. "And I've said this on Jericho's podcast, that thing he did with time travel, that was the craziest Dynamite of all-time other than the Atlanta taping. . . Matt Hardy and Chris were trying to talk me into [it], specifically Chris liked the idea of Matt teleporting. Dude, I'm lucky these guys are even there. . . But the idea of teleportation, I was just like, 'Alright. I'm just lucky you guys [are here].' At that point it was a miracle the show was even coming off.

"But anyway. To get to the point we are now with Big Money Matt and the stuff we're doing now. I feel like sometimes, if you don't like an idea you can move on and do something [else]. And I think Matt Hardy, and the stuff he's done with Private Party, The Butcher and The Blade and the Bunny, and now with Christian Cage, is super compelling. He's really become a really center figure in the show. Like I said, his match with Darby Allin was huge. . . Of Darby's ten title defenses that was by far his biggest one."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Rasslin' with Brandon F. Walker with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.