Report on why Shane McMahon never worked for AEW despite having a meeting with Tony Khan

It was reported during the summer of 2024 that AEW President Tony Khan had a private meeting with Shane McMahon and a photo of them together “leaked” online.

During his podcast, former WWE announcer Jonathan Coachman discussed the meeting. According to Coachman, Shane allegedly asked for equity in the company and expressed interest in wanting to run the entire show. Coachman also claimed that Khan “ghosted” McMahon.

Fightful.com noted that a source close to Shane says Khan never followed up after their meeting. The source couldn’t confirm if Shane wanted equity in AEW but said it seemed like Shane wanted to “run things” despite lacking knowledge of AEW’s product or business model. The source also claimed that Shane didn’t take it personally and that Khan may have thought he was joking about the idea.

Sources near Shane McMahon spoke with https://t.co/jy8u4a7WDa and wouldn't confirm Shane wanted equity in the AEW, but did admit that Shane was hoping to run a lot of things without having much product knowledge.

Tony Khan passed on the overture.

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— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) February 20, 2025