Tony Khan Names AEW Feud That Was One Of The Best Parts Of His Life

On this week's Wrestling with Freddie podcast from iHeart Media's My Cultra Network, AEW Owner & President Tony Khan joined Freddie Prinze Jr. for part two of his appearances.

Tony noted that MJF first caught his eye when he was regularly watching Major League Wrestling (MLW) stating that The Salt of the Earth was one of the standout performers.

"I was watching MLW, and you know, it was hard to miss MJF," Khan said. "I watched for weeks and weeks, and month and months, all through 2018. So I saw him cut a lot of promos. They had a lot of good people on the show at that time. So I was watching it pretty regularly, looking for people, so I would go back in that summer and MJF was one of the real standout people."

Tony Khan mentioned that MJF's feud with CM Punk and the lead-up to their Dog Collar Match at AEW Revolution 2022, was one of the best things he's been a part of in his life.

"He's such a great wrestler, he's such a great professional," Tony said. "And we were talking about all the great stuff that CM Punk and MJF did in building up to their Dog Collar Match at Revolution and telling this story. It's one of the best things I've ever been a part of in my life."

Freddie Prinze Jr. expressed that he believes that the CM Punk-MJF feud is the best story so far in the history of AEW. Khan stated that it was all down to the duo.

"I give all the credit to them, CM Punk and MJF," Tony Khan stated. "I am the administrator in a lot of ways, and what I think is really cool, and people will ask why I don't have a lot of writers, is because I work with the top talent. We'll develop top storylines and programs, I'll do everything, say like, 'you'll do this, this and this.

"Here's who you're going to work with this week, or we're going to build you up, and then at the end of next week, I'll explain where we're going next.' And you can do that with some younger people, but, like, MJF and CM Punk, with each of them, I've spent hours and hours sitting, planning, talking and they came in with such great ideas.

"A lot of this stuff just matched up beautifully and they both had long-term story ideas and things we could do. When you have wrestlers with those kinds of great ideas, look, I don't have to do every idea that gets thrown at me. That's the thing, I try and take the best ones and talk to different people about different ideas. But I feel I'm better off talking to the two of them. Imagine if I'd gone off in a room with neither of them, with like six other people, and then tried to go to the two of them."

In the end, it was Khan, CM Punk, and MJF putting the story together to build up to the Dog Collar Match, and the AEW President also noted that CM Punk was heavily involved in his arrival feud with Darby Allin.

"The entire thing was the three of us," Tony Khan said. "And that's how it should be, and it's been like that a lot. The same thing when Punk came in with Darby. Punk and I sat down and put ideas together, and I went to Darby and nobody in the wrestling business knew what was going on, but me and Punk.

"And I went to Darby and said, 'this is the promo you're going to do.' Basically, I think it was the one, maybe ten days before The First Dance in early August, and the line I gave Darby was, 'no matter how great you think you are, if you wanna prove it, you have to come to AEW, even if you think you're the best in the world.' And I knew that one line would do it. He knew where we were going."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Wrestling with Freddie with an h/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.