After booking a blistering four-hour Pay-Per-View filled to the gills with technical spectacles, high-flying heroics, and one of the most hotly anticipated debuts of the year in the form of WWE Hall of Famer Edge, Tony Khan decided to keep the AEW fun going with a media scrum for the ages, with the exact runtime clocking in at around 150 minutes give or take.

Over this blistering odyssey through the minds of many of the best wrestlers in the promotion, AEW's best and brightest touched on a lot, but one topic that received a surprising amount of candidness from the CEO was the departure of Jade Cargill, who officially signed with WWE last week.

Despite giving pretty similar, very well-prepared answers to questions about Cargill in the past, Khan decided to peel the curtain back just a touch and revealed why the contract negotiations broke down between the two sides.

“I knew Jade’s contract had been ticking down, and we were talking about a new contract, and I was very interested in Jade coming back, and we were having a negotiation. I made a very big offer, and I thought it was a very fair offer. I think she was considering it, and then she asked for a bigger offer, and then I went up again, and I kind of thought that was going to do it. Then, it didn’t, which I was surprised because to be honest, I came up to a number that was higher than her original ask. I don’t know what I would have had to do at that point. I was a little surprised. I did really hope that Jade would be back. I think I tried to handle it, when we were down to the nitty gritty and we were down to the final couple of weeks, and we still hadn’t agreed to something, then it was at the point where I said, ‘if you aren’t going to stay, I’m going to give you the best possible exit,” Tony Khan told reporters via Fightful.

“I have only good things to say about Jade. I really enjoyed working with her. She was a great part of AEW, she is always welcome here, I tried to give her the best possible send-off I could. The classiest send-off I’ve ever seen in wrestling was, at the time, was when Ric Flair left the WWF. He did a match with Mr. Perfect, who was a natural person for him to wrestle, and that was it, he was gone. They didn’t do anything to embarrass him or mess him up, they let him leave, and he was still Ric Flair. He wrestled the match against the person he should have, finished up, and left with not only his dignity but probably a better position than he came in. That’s what I tried to do. I wanted to give her the best possible send-off.”

Whoa, Khan offered Cargill multiple contract extensions, including one worth more than her asking price, only to be rejected for a multi-year deal with WWE? Well, then maybe these negotiations weren't necessarily about trying to reach a number but moreso Khan trying to figure out why Cargill wanted to leave and how to handle that accordingly. Fortunately, he was able to make the most of the situation and delivered a solid farewell to the homegrown star.

Tony Khan reveals how he made the most out of Jade Cargill's exit.

So, with Jade Cargill's contract rapidly set to expire and no extension going to happen, Tony Khan knew he needed to find a way to make the most of the exit both for the performers sticking around and to make sure his former TBS Champion looked good on the way out the door.

His solution? An impromptu rematch with Kris Statlander for the TBS Championship.

“The natural thing was, there was no rematch against Kris Statlander, so I had her do a run in knowing it would set up the match where she would likely finish up unless we came to an agreement at the last minute, which I was really still hoping would happen, down to the last minute,” Tony Khan said. “I only have positive things to say. I thought I had a good plan where, ‘If this is it, that’s where we’ll finish up.' When she did the segment where she returned and did the run-in, Tony Schiavone came to the monitor as my desk and said, ‘You’re a classy guy, boss.' I think he meant it, it was a classy way to send her off. I try to make this a great home for wrestlers, and I want people to see whether you’re coming in or coming out, we’re going to treat you well, and I respect and value Jade, so I wanted to give her a big send-off. I wish her the best, and she would always be welcome back if she wanted to come back.”

Fortunately for TK, his strategy appears to have worked out exceptionally well, as fans have lauded Cargill's match with Statlander as the best of her career, and everyone appears to have left the situation happy. If Cargill had to go, putting a bow on the situation was the right way to go.