AEW President Tony Khan was interviewed by the Associated Press about all things AEW. Khan feels that since he has become more hands-on in several different departments in AEW, the company has grown stronger and he believes fans would agree with that.
I’ve found the company has gotten stronger the more I take on. And I think the fans would agree with that. The really hardcore fans would actually really agree with that. The people who know, know the more hands-on I got about everything, the company has gotten a lot stronger.
Our TNT deal is very fair. I think we’ve performed at such a high level that we’ll justify a big increase on our next deal. We are very fortunate to have their support. The timing of that deal was great, to get that in January 2020, that is a huge revenue stream for us.
Khan’s name was brought up by AEW talent Max Caster on Twitter. Caster challenged Khan to a rap battle at AEW Grand Slam. Khan has yet to respond to the tweet.
Why Tony? I believe this is probably true, but you don’t say it. No employees want to hear their boss say things like this, it just makes the boss come off like they are full of themselves.
Personally I have a team that works under me. Do I do alot, yes. Do I ever take credit, fuck no. If anything, I always try to give credit to my employees, its like business 101.
I’ll defend Tony by suggesting he’s 1) not wrong 2) hardly insulting anyone. This is his company. Imagine if he wasn’t firmly in control and as involved, the company would likely be like every other competitor that’s come along. Tony is the difference maker and it’s clear the culture he’s fostered and got other talent to buy in to. It’s as much a coming out party for TK as it is AEW and it would be kind of underselling what he’s done to deflect credit to everyone else when only he has succeeded at this level, besides Vince. He’s not a manager, he’s a founder and owner.
There’s a reason you only know one executive from Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft.
At the end of the day everyone else has to be replaceable and therefore bestowing too much credit on any employees is ill advised. Also imagine he goes and rattles off 3 or 4 key people - well, now somebody swoops in and pays them a huge number and TK just bid up his own employees. On the flip side, if there were departures it opens up the door for everyone to speculate it’s not as good or won’t be the same. This guy is more than complimentary and defers to the performers if you’ve ever seen the scrums and as for the corporate side I think it’s misguided to judge it as a typical environment. It’s probably a very bad thing we know who Kevin Dunn and John Laurenitus are. TK will and should get all the praise now and will and should get the heat if the tide turns on them.
Just my opinion and defense - I see a valid point made by @kliq though about being a manager. I think he’s taking a very sports like approach where he’s the Owner/GM/Coach. It all starts and ends with him and he’s very complimentary of the talent already.
I don’t think this is true. When the Omega cage match went sour he didn’t own up and take the heat. He tried to laugh it off as storyline.
I’ve never heard him man up and admit anything went wrong TBH. And perhaps not much has to date, but the one time it did he didn’t exactly jump out as a guy taking the heat.
Instead of saying this why does t he just stfu and not say it? Does it need to be said? Does he need his ego massaged more than it has been?
He is being interviewed by the Associate Press. Should he not be doing media?
And for most the criticism the company ever gets they are pretty quick to either try and spin it to a storyline or just fix it.
He’s selling a growing start-up, why would he own mistakes (largely only ever discussed in deep wrestling circles) that haven’t hurt business? Once you start acknowledging every mistake you invite criticism in a vicious cycle.
Plus let’s not confuse “wrestling angles” with business. We the hardcore wrestling fan care about angles / but what on the business side with actual measurable metrics has been shit that he hasn’t owned up to?
I agree with most of this, I just don’t think he should say it. Even in sports, if a team wins the World Series, I don’t think it’s a good idea for the team owner, GM, or Manager to publicly say they were the biggest reason (even if it’s true). 99.9% will say it’s a team effort, or will give credit to the players
He didn’t need to say that things are better the more he does. That would be like A sports team owner saying that and you never here one say that because it’s egotistical even if it’s true.
As for him and negative things we shall see as more crops up.
It’s not something he really needs to be saying, but I hope he does more of it, just for the sole fact of riling up the morons on Twitter who hate him. Anything that gets those clowns upset, is awesome in my books.
As a person who has done interviews that get used in articles (rather than those presented in a question and answer format) in the past we aren’t really given a context to his quote here. Was he asked “You really seem to do a lot behind the scenes here why is that?” Or “It seems like you have increased your backstage role in AEW, why is that?” Or something along those lines. Which is quite a bit of a different thing than if he were is volunteering “hey I’m super great”. It seems like a lot of people are feeling like he is out grabbing credit, when that really isn’t clear. Given the article I am much more inclined to think it was a response to a direct question. I mean if he is asked the above type of question how exactly is he meant to answer? “no comment” or “well I just really love wrestling so I like being involved.”
I don’t think he is wrong either, I think having a single vision is important similar to say Kevin Feige in the MCU.
As to the sports team manager or owner saying something like that. You do see it at times but more in reference to other front office personnel. Head coach takes over play calling for the OC. Coach gets fired, owner takes more active role in talent evaluation. Often comes with quotes about how “x just wasn’t working.”
Would you rather he went that way, ask say Omega to step down as an executive because the women’s division was doing poorly early on? Or say the direction of x division wasn’t working so I felt the need to step in? I feel like that is way more of a direct shot on his talent (given that many executives are also “on field” talent) then what he actually said.
People on Twitter getting mad is pretty funny, to be honest I don’t see why a fan would actually get upset about this. The only reason why I say you shouldn’t say it is due to how it will make your employees feel.