Tony Khan Concedes AEW Would Be In 'Very Challenging' Position Without These Three Stars

Between injuries and suspensions over the past half-year, AEW has been without some of the company's top stars for its weekly shows and pay-per-view events. However, other performers have picked up the slack, with AEW CEO Tony Khan specifically mentioning how valuable former WWE Champion Bryan Danielson, ROH World Champion Chris Jericho, and three-time AEW World Champion Jon Moxley have been in recent months.

"I think it'd be very challenging," Khan said in an interview with "DAZN News when talking about what it would be like booking AEW without those three. "If you looked at many teams, and took three players off of them, three of the most featured and productive players on the team, I think those teams would struggle.

"If you take [Larry] Bird, [Kevin] McHale, and ]Robert] Parish, or Magic Johnson, Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], and [James] Worthy, or [Michael] Jordan, [Scottie] Pippen, and [Dennis] Rodman off [their] different sports teams [and] you took those three most productive players off. These (Danielson, Jericho, and Moxley) are three of the most productive players on our team. A lot of great people contribute to the show, but they are three of the most important for sure."

Over the past two months, Danielson, Jericho, and Moxley were three of the four men who competed in the AEW Tournament of Champions to crown a new AEW World Champion. The tournament took place due to CM Punk being stripped of the AEW World Championship after a backstage altercation that also involved The Elite and Ace Steel. Since August, Danielson, Jericho, and Moxley have faced one another in the main event of "Dynamite," with Danielson defeating Jericho, and Moxley defeating both Danielson and Jericho.