More Details On Backstage Reaction To Kevin Sullivan's AEW Firing

Last week, it emerged that AEW's Senior VP and Co-Executive Producer Mike Mansury had fired VP of Post Production Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan — not to be confused with former NWA, WCW, and ECW wrestler Kevin Sullivan — initially joined the promotion from Impact Wrestling when it first began operations in 2019. 

According to longtime wrestling reporter Dave Meltzer, who was speaking about the decision on the "Wrestling Observer Radio" show, Sullivan's firing has been met with a "unanimous" negative reaction behind the curtain. He added that Sullivan was popular among talent and production staff.

People who work for Tony Khan's promotion believe that Sullivan was "the best" at doing his job, which included creating video packages and vignettes as well as piecing together content for YouTube. Meltzer noted last week that Sullivan was responsible for building AEW's entire post-production team.

The reason why Sullivan was fired has yet to be disclosed, although AEW co-owner and CEO Khan did not overrule the call to let him go. However, Sullivan was allegedly told that AEW was going in a different direction, which is consistent with QT Marshall's decision to leave the promotion. Marshall, who works as an on-screen talent and wears many hats behind the scenes, mentioned that the "company has changed a lot since 2019 and is heading in a different direction" when he announced on social media that he was departing AEW at the end of the year. According to reports, AEW is going to start prioritizing in-ring action — similar to New Japan Pro-Wrestling — over storylines and angles.