Tony Khan’s reaction to Vince McMahon ripping up television scripts at the last minute

Back in August of 2021, there was a report that Vince McMahon was said to be “extremely unhappy” with original plans for an episode of WWE RAW and the script was “ripped up” several times.

During an interview with Forbes, AEW President Tony Khan talked about his company’s creative process and commented on WWE scripts reportedly being ripped up…

“I did lean more on people around me. I would try to trust my instincts, but it’s hard when you don’t have as much experience. I do take a lot of pride in the booking. I work with a lot of really smart people. What I think I do a good job of is being organized dealing with a lot of different people and going through ideas. I have a lot of great, creative minds that are in the company that I have full-time access to like Chris Jericho, Christian Cage, Jon Moxley has great ideas. Now, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, and Adam Cole have come in with great ideas. We have a lot of awesome things happening right now and I’m proud of that and I try to keep it all organized and balanced. I’ve found that it’s helped me a lot, writing the shows myself. I don’t understand the idea of having a lot of different people write the show and then a person would go in the day of and rip it to pieces and try to come up with new ideas. To be honest, when I hear about somebody going in and they have a TV show on Monday that they rip up, my first thought is, ‘What were you doing all weekend?’ I work my ass off on the weekends. I have to come in with a plan for Wednesday and Friday night. I want to make sure Dynamite and Rampage is great. I don’t do everything myself, but I do make the final decision on everything. I put the format together, I put an outline on what the show is going to be for Dynamite and Rampage and write it by hand. I don’t understand why you’re going to come in and rip up a show that you should have a pretty good idea of what it is and you should have approved it where Monday, you know what we’re doing. Things change on the day of a show, not that I ever change my mind on the day of, I do, but not where I change everything. I might change one or two things around on instinct or because something happened, but for the most part, I like to have a good idea of what’s going to be on the show next week and the week after. I really believe that the fans like that we try our best not to insult their intelligence and I do try to make the shows compelling and logical. That’s one of the challenges because a lot of times, people come to you with ideas and it’s hard because everyone has their own approaches and philosophies, but there is a tone to the show. I really just want people to go out and make points and keep the stories going but I’m not so autocratic that I want to control every word somebody says on television and that’s also why some of our interviews, storytelling, and promos are really strong.” (quote courtesy of Fightful.com)