AEW Interviewer Explains How Tony Khan Brought Him Into AEW
RJ City has been a pro wrestler since 2006, but his in-ring prowess did not end up being what brought him to major promotions. Instead, it's been his comedy that brought him to a role producing internet content, first as part of "The Bump" in WWE and, starting last year, with his own YouTube show, "Hey! (EW)," in AEW.
Stephanie Chase recently released a new interview with City on her YouTube channel, and one of the main topics was how exactly he ended up with his own little, off-beat fiefdom within AEW, complete with the first "and stupidest" name he came up with for it.
"My general understanding is Tony [Khan] is directly the reason I'm in AEW, because he messaged me," City explained. "He had known my stuff: The stuff I did in WWE, I did a comedy special, he knew that; but he [also] knew all the videos I put online, just stupid videos I was making, which blew me away. Because it's like 'Why didn't you tell me earlier?' So I think he knew exactly what he was getting. He was also my second guest, which was pretty much the stamp of approval of 'I tolerate this person's idiocy.'"
City then revealed who he reports to in AEW.
"I guess my direct boss would be Kevin Sullivan. Not the wrestler, the editor [who] did a bunch of stuff in Impact, did a bunch of 'Attitude Era' [WWE] stuff. He did The Rock's Chef Boyardee commercial, and all those weird Super Soaker commercials, which I ask about constantly."
RJ City: 'Fisting' joke was no problem
RJ City notes that Kevin Sullivan has the "final say" over what stays in or cut out of an episode of "Hey! (EW)." But according to him, that authority has rarely been wielded over him, limited only to lines that would cause continuity issues.
"My third episode was [with] Eddie Kingston, and I made a horrible, horrible fisting joke at the end," he explained. "'I hope you spin back here and fist me again,' that's what I said, okay? Especially when you traffic in those kinds of things, you just have to expect getting a phone call saying, 'We can't say that.' This is my first day on the job, by the way. I didn't get a call, and I was shocked. I wanted to call them back and say, 'No one has a problem with this? Are you sure?"
City recognizes that he's found himself in his perfect job, something he's thankful for while crediting those who helped him get there, naming Sonjay Dutt, in addition to Sullivan and Khan.
"Sonjay has been pulling for me to work at a variety of wrestling promotions for over a decade now, which is so incredibly sweet," he said. "And then we're so happy that when we finally get to work together, it's this. I don't want to be like [one of] those 'everything happens for a reason and blah blah blah [people],' but this was worth the wait, I think, for all of us."
"It is weird, both WWE and AEW, I had positions that only seemed to be created for me," he added. "Where they're like, 'Here you go. Uh, do whatever you want. Whatever weird things you do, knock yourself out.'"
"Hey! (EW)" premieres every Sunday morning on AEW's YouTube channel.