Tony Khan's Approach to Handling Locker Room Tensions in AEW

In recent months there have been numerous reports of backstage turmoil within AEW, encompassing issues like CM Punk's friction with The Elite and purportedly not granting access to certain wrestlers, including Ryan Nemeth, Matt Hardy, and Christopher Daniels, at Collision shows.

During an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Tony Khan, the President of AEW, was questioned about how he manages the discord in the locker room. He emphasized that, as a dedicated fan himself, his top priority is the audience, as he strives for AEW to showcase the finest talent in the wrestling world and assemble the most outstanding roster possible.

“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 to 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 added, “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.”

⚡ MJF Critiques Wrestling Tribalism, Highlights Inter-Company Camaraderie Among Wrestlers

MJF recently spoke out against tribalism among wrestling fans during an interview with Busted Open Radio. Tribalism in professional wrestlin [...]

— Ben Jordan Kerin Aug 23, 2023 01:27PM