Tony Khan On How Triple H's New Role Affects AEW And WWE Dynamic
Since Paul "Triple H" Levesque was appointed head of WWE creative after the shocking retirement of Vince McMahon, wrestling fans have been treated with the returns of several talents, including Dexter Lumis, Karrion Kross, Dakota Kai, and IYO SKY (formerly Io Shirai). There's also been speculation that several former "NXT" wrestlers are now itching to return to WWE, names that include Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, and others, including a few currently signed to All Elite Wrestling.
As regards the AEW talent, AEW owner Tony Khan has vehemently denied those rumors, revealing he has the wrestlers in question signed to lengthy deals and saying the notion that those talents are "just magically gonna switch teams" is false. Continuing to discuss his opinion on the changes made within WWE, Khan joined the "Superstar Crossover" podcast to clarify the positives and negatives for himself and his company now that Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and Nick Khan are in charge of the competition.
What do Triple H and Tony Khan have in common?
"The challenge would be that I think we're more likely to compete for the same wrestlers, because I think that our vision of wrestling is probably a bit closer together than with his predecessor," Khan said. "I do think there are a lot of advantages, though. The shows they've been doing are generally better than the shows that they've been doing before the change, which is good for the wrestling business. It's a little bit different than what we've been going up against before, and in terms of me being the CEO of AEW, I see some positives and some negatives, but I see a lot of positives."
According to Khan, the positives involve lapsed or casual fans coming back to wrestling as a result of the changes in WWE — fans that could then become interested in AEW. "If you've been away from wrestling and you're a big fan of it, then there's a good chance you're very familiar with a lot of the top stars of AEW," he said, referencing former WWE stars like CM Punk, Jon Moxley, and Chris Jericho.Somebody who's stepping back in and watching wrestling again would have a lot of interest in that ... It poses some challenges, but I think there's a lot of positive things about what's happening in wrestling right now, too."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Superstar Crossover with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.