Tony Khan tries to limit his on-screen appearances.
In recent weeks, AEW CEO Tony Khan has had a more prominent role in AEW programming than he had in the past. The Young Bucks dropped him with a Tony Khan Driver on the April 24 episode of AEW Dynamite, and Khan made his return on the May 22 episode, as he drove Darby Allin to the show and let him into the building after the Young Bucks barred him from entering.
During the AEW Double or Nothing media call, Bill Pritchard of WrestleZone asked Tony Khan to comment how he approached getting involved on AEW television.
"I really tried to limit the amount of appearances I have personally made over the past five years. It would be fair to say that less than one-tenth of 1% of television time has been spent on me over the last five years. That’s how it should be. Occasionally, if a match had to be made or a major announcement, I would come out and do those things. I am planning to visit the fans this weekend and I love being at the events before and after with the live crowd, signing autographs and taking photos whenever I can. It’s really important to me that the focus of the show is on the wrestlers and the wrestling. Even when there is a story like the struggle for control of the company. The power in the office. It’s still important to feature it in the context of a wrestling show and with the wrestlers. Even with last night, I was at most two seconds on the show. That’s how it should be. You don’t need to see a ton of me. It should be about the wrestlers, and the reaction Darby got when he got into the arena. Because the Young Bucks banned him from the arena and Kenny Omega has been out with surgery, there was really only one person who could lift that ban. I felt that ban needed to get lifted. It was really important for the fans going into Double or Nothing for the fans to see Darby and for him to save Bryan Danielson on his birthday and for Bryan and Darby to stand tall," Khan said.
Khan shared his thoughts on Team AEW and noted that it changed due to Eddie Kingston's injury. He explained how the members represented different eras of AEW. He then repeated that it was important to have Darby Allin and Bryan Danielson stand tall on the May 22 episode of AEW Dynamite, and he was the only one who could get Allin into the arena.
FTR has been a great part of AEW. It’s a really cool Team AEW. It originally included Eddie Kingston, but when Eddie was injured in New Japan Pro-Wrestling -- we’re all wishing Eddie the best and we hope he gets well soon. We all love Eddie very much and we want to see him well and back. The team changed and the circumstances changed when Eddie got hurt. An interesting aspect of this Team AEW...it was important to get Darby in the arena and I can’t wait for FTR to rejoin Bryan and Darby on Sunday. It was important Darby backed up Bryan last night and I felt like there was only one person that could get him in there. I think it’s almost important that, at most it was maybe two seconds of me, and the rest was him. It’s important to showcase the wrestlers on the wrestling show," Khan said.
Click here to catch up on our coverage of the May 22 episode of AEW Dynamite. For a full review, check out the post-show podcast on our YouTube channel.
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