AEW Wrestlers Love Tony Khan Because He’s Totally A Cool Guy, We Swear!

A rising star has emerged in the world of professional wrestling. As CEO of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), Tony Khan has gone from a regular (albeit insanely wealthy) fan to one of the most talked-about names in the industry. And Khan isn’t just a stuffy boss at a hip wrestling startup. He’s also “one of the boys,” popular with all the performers on his roster—especially the ones he’s named Executive Vice-President, and also the ones to whom he pays exorbitant salaries.

The stars of this growing company rave about their boss, describing him as “guy,” and “friend,” someone who they “sometimes make jokes with.” Wrestling star Chris Jericho recently opened up about his “totally natural and not forced” friendship with Khan, explaining that their bond began as most authentic friendships do—though his manager. Jericho then said he really discovered his affection for Khan when the billionaire gave him a ride on his private plane.

Young Bucks Matt and Nick Jackson, executives for AEW, described first meeting Khan at a signing where he arrived in a Bullet Club Tekken shirt. “At first we thought he was just this totally lame guy, and we wondered why he was even there,” the elder Jackson said. “But then he bought every piece of merch at our booth and told us we could borrow his yacht, and we suddenly realized that, like, he’s a really cool dude.”

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Khan, with no formal training in television production or set design, is so beloved by his staff that they let him create the set for their PPV event, “Fight for the Fallen.” Audiences called the end results “weird,” and “not good,” saying, “What the fuck was that stage set up? It looked terrible in person and also on television.” Wow!

Even Stone Cold Is a Fan

It’s not just employees who are raving about Khan. WWE Hall of Famer and legend Steve Austin recently had Khan on his podcast. Austin listened, enraptured, as Khan regaled him with youthful stories of his wrestling tape trading. “He was literally boring me to tears,” Austin later said. “But then the ‘lil sumabitch tells me his dad owns the Jacksonville Jaguars and that he’s gonna fly me out to a game, and I’m like, aww hell yeah!”

Perhaps Chris Jericho summed up Khan best when he compared the mogul to another legend, former WCW president and current-day WWE Smackdown Executive Producer Eric Bischoff. “When Eric was the boss back in the day, everyone loved him because he just gave us money all the time. We called him ATM Eric. Hahaha!”

Do the crew have any similar friendly nicknames for Khan, we asked? “Great point!” Jericho said. “I don’t know. ATM Tony? A-TonyM? No, doesn’t really flow. We’ll definitely come up with something, though.”

Image: Alex Sheldon on Unsplash