MR. TITO: Reviewing Tony Khan’s Recent STUPID Quotes and Failure to Sell his Neck Injury from AEW Dynamite

I’m going to be totally honest here, folks… I don’t want to bash Tony Khan. In fact, I want to root for him. Pro wrestling needs competition to help induce quality for all promotions. If you read my columns through 2018, I was miserable trying to endure those AWFUL babyface Roman Reigns days along with Triple H’s poor handling of Creative/Talent Relations while Vince McMahon micro-managed everything. Then, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) arrived, brought on legitimate free agents to make an impact (Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley) and obtained themselves a valid TV contract with AT&T’s owned Warner Bros. Took a moment for WWE to take AEW seriously, but by August 2020, WWE made a major creative change to its top character and it’s been uphill for the WWE since. Furthermore, AEW’s presence has helped more wrestlers get PAID.

I have years upon years of columns to back that stance up…

But damn Tony Khan, could you just shut up for once?

You should be selling a DEVASTATING neck injury sustained at the hands of Jack Perry, Young Bucks, and Okada but instead, you’re talking to media folks as if nothing ever happened. Worse yet, you say completely ignorant things that makes you and AEW look bad.

First and foremost, SELL THE DAMN INJURY, mmmmkay? You can’t just wear a loosely applied neck brace and then be seen on television turning your head repeatedly. Furthermore, why are you even seen on television for the NFL Draft? I understand that it’s an important night for the Jacksonville Jaguars, but you’re 1 freakin’ day removed from being attacked by Perry/Bucks/Okada. Why are you even on television? Your absence from television cameras could have painted a better picture than seeing you turn your head repeatedly with a loosely applied neck brace.

And then, you opened your mouth…

He’s talking to a media reporter without any pain or anguish, as if he wasn’t brutally attacked on Wednesday Night before the NFL draft. He’s just his normal self… THIS is the guy who claimed to be “scared for his life” when CM Punk lunged at him backstage for All In 2023 at Wembley Stadium and yet he’s not traumatized by 4 of his own employees attacking him on his own AEW television show? 2 of the employees were his own direct reporting EVPs, too? While Okada was one of his prized free agents that he paid millions to recently.

They actually attacked him… As the security footage clearly shows, CM Punk did attack him (may have if Chris Hero and Jerry Lynn didn’t hold Punk back), but on AEW Dynamite from 4/24/2024, Jack Perry, Young Bucks, and Okada clearly got physical with him. Sooooooo, why was CM Punk fired and why haven’t Perry/Bucks/Okada been fired? I understand that Punk’s attack was on security footage while Perry/Bucks/Okada was on scripted television, BUT the Young Bucks using said security footage on a scripted pro wrestling show makes the CM Punk incident at Wembley Stadium canon to AEW’s storylines. By showing that security on television, it creates the utter hypocrisy that television viewers can now see. Punk yells at Tony, gets fired, while Perry/Bucks/Okada legitimately attack Tony on television, they won’t get fired. THIS argument would not be there had AEW not aired that security footage as part of their storylines.

But let’s talk about Tony’s actual words… During an interview from the NFL Draft, Tony Khan compared AEW to “Pepsi” and without me giving you what he compared the WWE to, you’d expect his answer to be “Coke”, correct? After all, Coke carries about 69% of the market share for colas, while Pepsi holds about 27%. That is a legitimately adequate comparison and I would have totally accepted it… But attention seeking whore Tony Khan did NOT say that. He compared the WWE to “Harvey Weinstein”, you know, the film producer accused and convicted on multiple counts of sexual harassment, abuse, and assault? Yes, I know that one of his recent court cases was overturned due to bias of the court, but that will get retried and get thrown back onto him. He’s currently in jail for convictions on other cases, too.

THAT is the most absurd thing to ever say, and I believe WWE has a valid case for defamation because that is clearly slanderous for Tony to say publicly. Especially when Endeavor/TKO was extremely cautious of Vince McMahon, as indicated by regulatory reports of risk factors, and immediately pressured him to resign once the lawsuit stuff blew up. Yes, he was made TKO’s Chairman, but his WWE shares caused him to get that role as a condition of the Endeavor purchase of WWE. The conversion caused Vince to own like 27% of TKO’s stock and much of that other 22% of former WWE stock owners that comprised of 49% were loyal WWE investors to Vince.

But Vince McMahon is long gone now, and has been selling off all of his shares since. TKO/Endeavor has been cleaning house of the old WWE guard since they acquired it last year and will do further to work to clean things up.

Calling WWE as “Harvey Weinstein” just looks bad and creates undue attention on Tony Khan and AEW. Now, instead of focusing on this injury angle, everybody is focusing on what Tony Khan said about the WWE and his “Harvey Weinstein” comparison. Nobody cares about your injury angle when you’re sitting upright, not selling the injury, and saying STUPID THINGS.

Let me just add to how poorly Tony Khan is at public relations. Recently, he responded to quotes from Bill Goldberg and Kevin Nash.

For Bill Goldberg, he called AEW as “too cheesy” and kind of alluded that AEW wasn’t a “valid competitor” for him to join. It was a brief thing that Bill said and the interviewer moved on after that.

What was Tony Khan’s response to Bill Goldberg? Allow me to directly quote him:

“Bill wanted to work here! I met with Bill several times. Bill was looking to work here. It’s funny because I had a bunch of really nice meetings with Bill and would have honestly been interested in doing something. Since you brought it up, I have a lot of respect for Bill but I was surprised by that because certainly that wasn’t what he said to me when he was talking to me about maybe working here at some point, which I’ve always been open to and I really like Bill. It’s all about timing and we’re doing a lot of exciting things here right now. I know Sting and Bill are good friends and I really like Bill and have respect for him but when I saw that, I mean, Bill’s talked to me about working here so I don’t think he had any problem with any of that content. Anybody who saw Sting’s send-off has had positive things to say so I’m not sure what that was about but I do respect Bill and like him very much. He’s entitled to his opinion but certainly when I’ve talked to him in-person several times, in-person and in zooms and phone calls, we’ve had very nice conversations and he hasn’t said that but it’s good to know that’s how he feels. Maybe that’s an opinion he holds now but certainly, in our past conversations he’s always been a very positive, nice guy.”

Zzzzz…. Just drones on and on and on and on…

All Tony Khan had to say was this: “Bill Goldberg was interested in working with AEW and we met multiple times and they seemed to go well. It’s unfortunate that Bill feels that way, provided what seemed to be valid interest to join our company from the multiple meetings he wanted with us”.

BOOM, that’s all Tony had to say… But he just kept talking and talking and talking…

And if Tony really wanted to “stick it” to Bill Goldberg, he could have mentioned the reported high asking price to join AEW which many reports suggest killed any possibility of Goldberg joining AEW. Bill is 57 years old, about to turn 58. You don’t invest a high asking price in that, especially someone with some injury history and not as skilled inside the ring to operate at an older age. Edge, Christian, Jericho, and Sting know how to work, whereas Bill Goldberg is reliant on spots and gets exposed when he tries to work (see the Undertaker match).

In the words of Botchamania, which AEW repeatedly appears on, Tony “TALKS TOO MUCH”… Ya never shut up!

Then, Tony Khan had to respond to Kevin Nash‘s criticisms of Tony’s big free agent signing Will Ospreay. In the past, Nash has ridiculed Will as a drawing power and recently, he’s mocked Will working like an indy wrestler and his physique. Instead of just letting the match at AEW Dynasty with Bryan Danielson do the talking, Tony just had to chime in…

“I think Kevin Nash was a great wrestler. His opinions on wrestling I’m not sure I agree with them. He’s had some takes on Will Ospreay that I definitely don’t agree with. I’d be remiss if I don’t bring that up. I think Will Ospreay is one of the best young wrestlers in the world. We’re really fortunate to have Will Ospreay in AEW. He’s been coming in week in and week out and working so hard, having great matches. Both pay-per-views he’s been on he’s had these classic matches against Takeshita at AEW Revolution and against Bryan Danielson over a week ago at AEW Dynasty. I think Will Ospreay is so phenomenal. I’ve heard criticisms from Kevin that I don’t necessarily agree with about Will. Some of his opinions about current wrestling I just don’t agree with. I wish him the best and all the respect in the world to him.”

YOU TALK TOO MUCH!

I would advise Tony to say “Will’s work at our recent Pay Per Views speaks for itself”. That’s it, all Tony needed to respond to that interviewer. But Tony just goes on and on and on…

And by shedding more light on what Kevin Nash said, it’s going to drive more viewers or listeners to Kevin Nash’s podcast or YouTube channel.

Problem with Tony Khan is that he doesn’t respond to feedback or criticism well at all. Furthermore, he over-exposes himself by wanting to be the lead spokesperson of the company and taking as many interviews as possible.

There’s a REASON why Presidents of the United States have their own spokesperson. They want to choose their words carefully, as any words said by them could be chopped up or used out-of-context (notice I posted full quotes above for Tony). But if you talk too much and respond to every criticism, it drowns out your effective messaging on other matters.

Sorry, but Tony Khan is President/CEO of a professional wrestling company, while Bill Goldberg doesn’t work for a promotion because he’s too old, wants too much money, and his last few years in WWE were very subpar. Kevin Nash is actively rooting for his best friend Triple H’s company known as WWE. Why on earth is Tony giving either guy the time of the day?

Because he’s not smart.

If he had any intelligence, he’d let a company spokesperson represent AEW well with the media instead of him. Vince McMahon never did interviews, while Triple H is incredibly careful on his. But you’d NEVER see Vince or HHH compare a company to Harvey Weinstein, of all people.

If Shad Khan wants to be a real dad, he’d talk to his son about constantly placing his foot in his mouth or typing ludicrous stuff on Social Media. Shad didn’t make money by saying crazy things through the media or social media. No, he made it through hardwork and presenting a product that people wanted. People don’t want to follow a company with a loudmouth in charge. Messaging, presentation, and professionalism MATTER, Tony.

Comparing WWE to “Harvey Weinstein”… One of the most ignorant things ever said within the wrestling world.

And when AEW fans hear that from their fearless leader, they’ll imitate it. Several AEW loyal fans have attacked commenters here on NoDQ as being “pedos” for simply liking and enjoying the WWE. Huh? So because you enjoy the WWE and the entertaining that it brings, it makes you want to do horrible things to children? Makes zero sense… But when you have IGNORANT people leading your company, such as Tony Khan or the Young Bucks, they lead by example. They are pied pipers leading their rats (AEW fans) into the river.

Tony – Shut your damn mouth and sell that damn injury, you silver spoon using clown.

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