Tony Khan Says ROH Purchase Appeared Unlikely At One Point, Talks Brian Cage
AEW and ROH Owner Tony Khan spoke to the media following ROH Supercard of Honor. AEW superstar Brian Cage made a shocking appearance at the event, announcing his alignment with Tully Blanchard. With Cage not having been used on AEW for some time, the former FTW Champion revealed that he was shocked AEW had picked up his contract. Tony Khan spoke about Brian Cage's repackaged return tonight and revealed that he always had a plan in the back of his head for a Cage return in ROH when they were going through contract talks.
"I really like Brian Cage, I've always really liked Brian Cage," Khan said. "It was funny because when I first started thinking this might be a possibility [purchasing ROH], I hadn't worked Brian Cage back into my plans yet. I couldn't tell Brian Cage [about ROH], especially when it's confidential. Based on where we were going with him I thought Team Taz are in a really strong position right now and with Swerve and Keith Lee coming in, it didn't make any sense having Brian fighting with Ricky and Will because right now Swerve had a great main event with Ricky and this week Will had a great main event with Keith [on Rampage]. It was a kick ass match and a kick ass situation after.
"For Brian, I didn't think it made sense for him around Taz and those guys anymore. I also thought him and Tully here could be a good situation, especially when FTR and Tully were done. It's funny because with the situation of confidentiality and stuff, I couldn't tell Brian I wanted to buy ROH and debut you and repackage you here until about a month ago. It's funny because Brian, gotta love Brian, he told the media I picked up his contract. I was like, 'Jesus Brian, why did you tell people that'? I never told him not to, but I also couldn't tell him what I was doing with it but I should've told him not to. That being said, I think it was good because people wanted to see him come back and it made it that much better."
Tony Khan continued to talk about his decision to purchase Ring of Honor and how early on he thought about it. The AEW owner gave ROH talent and production back in December for ROH Final Battle, including Jay Lethal for the main event match, and revealed that at that time, he had no idea he was going to end up purchasing ROH.
"I didn't know I was going to buy ROH and if someone else had bought it, they would've gotten the benefit of the stuff we did for Final Battle and I was fine with that," Khan said. "I knew that I might not end up with the company and it didn't really look like I was going to end up with the company. My gut was that I probably wouldn't but I still felt like the right thing to do in December was to, at first, send all videos and tributes from all the great ROH wrestlers in AEW who used to be in ROH.
"I was happy to do that for them and when Bandido got COVID, I was very happy to send Jay Lethal. Did I know that was going to pay off in a great angle later on? No, I didn't but sometimes these things work out very well. I did a lot of stuff, sent FTR, Jay Lethal and sent a lot of videos from a lot of stars. Then this thing really came together and paid off."
You can watch the full scrum below. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.