Tony Khan On Satnam Singh’s AEW Debut: “I Could’ve Done It Better”
AEW Owner, CEO & General Manager Tony Khan agrees with fans who were critical of how Satnam Singh's debut was presented.
The 7' 3" former professional basketball player appeared after the lights went out at the very end of Wednesday night's episode of Dynamite.
"I could've done it better," Khan told Busted Open Radio on Friday. "It's like – You know, it's one of those things. I wish I had done it a little differently because the fans are always gonna be right. So, if the fans don't like something, sometimes – There's some things about it that where you're trying to get heat which is 'trying to get heat' situation. People aren't always gonna love it. But there were things about it that I probably should've done differently, now I see in hindsight.
"And, to be honest, it wasn't my idea to turn the lights out but I am the ultimate filter. I'm the person who everything goes through. I put the outline of the show together and when I came in Wednesday I thought it was the best outline I've ever put together. One of them, at least. It... was as much strong wrestling as you could possibly fit into the program and I thought up until that point the show was excellent.
"And then, that was the one thing we kinda went off on. People might not have liked it. Satnam is an important person for us. It was important to debut him in a meaningful way at the end of the show. With Jay Lethal he's gonna be a force to be reckoned with. At the same time, turning the lights out for somebody people didn't recognize – it's a great point.
"And to be honest, when – well, the person who brought up turning the lights off has over 30 years of experience in pro wrestling, and when they brought it up to me I was only looking at the pros and I should've thought about the cons because that is my job as the person who decides what goes in and who filters out these ideas. We had all these people in the room and somehow not one person, when that idea came up, brought out the negatives. And then, when we did it, all of a sudden all the negatives were very obvious.
Tony Khan would not reveal who the individual was who suggested turning off the arena lights before Satnam Singh appeared. Singh signed with AEW last September and has been training at the Atlanta-based Nightmare Factory run by Cody Rhodes and QT Marshall.
"I should've seen the negatives before we did it," Tony Khan lamented. "And I really didn't see them until it actually happened. And then I was like, 'OK, sure'. But that's not Satnam's fault. It's definitely not Jay Lethal's fault. And so, at the same time, I'm very excited for it. I think it created a lot of buzz. Satnam's debut has been the most-watched thing out of the show and frankly, it's gotten international attention I wanted it to get. But I didn't want it to loom over a lot of great stuff on the show either and I don't think it has or it will because there was a lot of great wrestling on that show. So I'm really excited about that.
"But the fans are always gonna be right. So, like, I think it's one of those times where I appreciate what their feedback was and now, as I am in my third year of doing this, I would not do that way again. And these are the things you learn going into year three that I would do differently in year four or five."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Busted Open Radio with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.