Bully Ray Says The Buck Stops With Tony Khan On Dangerous Spots In AEW

Between the Forbidden Door pay-per-view event and Wednesday night's "AEW Dynamite," this week's AEW shows have featured some scary moments — namely Will Ospreay's Tiger Driver '91 on Kenny Omega and Sting's dive off of a ladder putting Sammy Guevara through a table on the floor — to reignite the dialogue about safety in the company. 

On a recent episode of "Busted Open Radio" on SiriusXM, co-host Bully Ray, a veteran of stunt-heavy matches in the past, shared his thoughts on the issue, including how he felt that it was ultimately AEW CEO Tony Khan's responsibility.

"Absolutely," he responded when host Dave LaGreca asked him if he would have allowed the Sting spot if he were Khan. "I'd let him do it off a higher ladder, too. Through nine tables. Do whatever you want! You're an independent contractor, you're here to entertain the people. You've been doing it for a long time. You know right from wrong, safety-wise. Now, it is Tony Khan's company, and if anything happens in that ring, it pretty much falls back on him. 

"If word gets back to Tony that Sting is going to do a stunt, a dive, a whatever, a spot that really is risky and the risk does not equal the reward and something can go drastically wrong? Then it's Tony's job to step in and go, 'Hey Sting, let's talk about this spot you wanna do. I don't feel comfortable with it.' And now you open up the dialogue, just like you should be doing in pro wrestling period. And at the end of the day, if Tony doesn't feel comfortable, it's up to Tony to tell Sting, 'I don't feel comfortable having your life on the line here on my company's watch.'"

Bully also noted that, at WrestleMania 19, Vince McMahon asked him for advice on how Shawn Michaels could replicate a bump that he had taken in the various TLC matches, adding that if he had been consulted on the Sting spot, he would have told Guevera to lie on the second of the two tables Sting had lined up. Instead, he was halfway on each table.