As the professional wrestling world grapples with one of the biggest shoot stories of all time in the resignation of Vince McMahon mere hours before the opening bell of the 2024 Royal Rumble, seemingly every wrestling personality, from podcast hosts to red carpet wrestlers and even multi-hyphenate business owners like Tony Khan have been asked what they think of the shake-up at the top of WWE.
Now granted, in the past, Khan has had no issue talking smack on his WWE counterpart, calling him out for his alleged improprieties on social media on multiple occasions, but when asked about the actual pending lawsuit from Janel Grant against McMahon, John Laurinaitis, and WWE as a whole as part of Fansided MMA's pre-Super Bowl coverage, the AEW CEO took a decidedly different stance, opting against discussing the situation… even if he still put a little hot sauce on the answer to get his overly online fanbase talking.
“I can't comment on the terrible allegations against WWE right now. That's something people are paying a lot of attention to right now, with good reason,” Tony Khan told Fansided MMA via WrestleTalk. “For us, first and foremost, trying to create a safe locker room environment for everybody, women and men, and we have a really good bond. I think we have a great locker room, and everyone knows there is a support system there. There are a lot of channels, and I think everybody feels very good about having a safe place and a safe workspace and there are people you can talk to. There are people in the office, but even on the wrestling side. For us, I think that's the most important thing in any office of any workplace, is just having a lot of people that will listen and will want to make the company a safe and good place to work.”
Tip of the cap to Khan on that one, he really found a way to put his own promotion over, throw a little egg on his primary competitor, and sound decidedly professional where he could have instead opted to go for the low-hanging fruit. Granted, that might be because WWE could throw a defamation lawsuit in his direction for talking trash on their current situation, but still, after being clowned by some for answering a similar question about Chris Jericho after Worlds End while wearing Toni Storm's hat and glasses, this answer is a marked shift in the right direction.
Tony Khan dishes on the importance of Sting's final match.
Elsewhere on his Super Bowl LVIII weekend media tour, this time in an interview with Adrian Hernandez, Tony Khan was asked about Sting's final match and what fans should expect from the presumed main event of Revolution.
Though TK kept some of the details close to his best, opting against mentioning his EVPs, he did put over Sting's pairing with Darby Allin, as he couldn't be more excited to see them work together for one final match.
“Sting, to me, has had arguably the greatest career of anyone because if you look, Sting, the span and the fact that he’s still wrestling at such a high level in 2024, Sting had taken several years away. He had retired and I wanted to give Sting the best possible send off, the best run,” Tony Khan shared via PW Mania.
“Now we’re approaching the three-year anniversary of Sting’s return to wrestling. It was at Revolution three years ago where Sting had his comeback match. Now we’re coming up on what is the three-year anniversary of, to me, the greatest comeback ever in wrestling and the greatest final run. Sting now is officially co-holder of the World Tag Team Championships. This AEW World Tag Team title, it’s the first title Sting has held in wrestling in over 12 years and what a way for Sting to be approaching his retirement match teaming with Darby Allen in AEW every week. We love having Sting in AEW. Sting and Darby are a huge part of what we do. I think their team really embodies what AEW is all about to have one of the legends in wrestling, to bring him in, to show the most respect for his career and what he is. Then on top of that, to pair him with our homegrown star, two wrestlers who complement each other and fit each other like a glove, I think it’s great.”
How will Sting's final match shake out in AEW? Will he go out on top, placing the belt on the floor over a bloody pair of Young Bucks, and go out as a champion, or will he do the job as is the tradition for wrestlers leaving their boots in the ring, passing the baton to the next generation of workers? Either way, considering the three other men in the match, it's safe to say AEW is looking to pull out all of the stops and send him into retirement with a bang.
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