Tony Khan decided to pay for AEW star's surgery after bumping into him in the hallway

AEW president Tony Khan has always seemed like a man who wants to take care of his wrestlers while they are on the sidelines, but one member of the roster has revealed that Khan paid for his surgery before he was even signed to the company.

The star in question is Aussie Open's Mark Davis, who injured his knee during a match in New Japan Pro Wrestling in May 2023. The injury forced Davis and his partner Kyle Fletcher to vacate both the NJPW STRONG and IWGP Tag Team Championships that same month.

However, a trip to a Ring of Honor taping just a few days later turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Aussie Open revealed to Chris Jericho on "Talk is Jericho" that bumping into the AEW President in the hallway led to Davis' knee getting fixed.

"There was a Ring of Honor taping we were supposed to be involved in. We got there and I was like, 'I don't think I can wrestle, I need to get my knee looked at.' The trainers looked at it (and said), 'It's you're meniscus.' (Then I said,) 'That's what I thought it was.' It's a thing I expected to happen, it was a frustrating point in time because we were tag champions. I was in Orlando, I passed Tony [Tony Khan] in the hallway (and he said), 'Come and talk to me.' He sorted it. He got my knee fixed. He didn't have to," said Mark Davis. [H/T Fightful]

Fletcher also recalled the moment Khan offered his money to his tag team partner, saying he sorted the surgery out for Davis that day.

"We weren't contracted at this point, this was literally, [Tony Khan] saw Davis, he heard what was going on, and he came up to him in the hallway, 'Come here, I'll sort it for you right now," said Kyle Fletcher. [H/T Fightful]

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Mark Davis felt this decision by Tony Khan led to Aussie Open choosing AEW in the future

Injuries, title vacations and surgeries were just the tip of the iceberg for Aussie Open in May 2023, as the duo were officially 'All Elite' by the end of the month. Davis stated later on in the podcast that the decision to sign for AEW was influenced by Tony Khan's generosity, and the fact that the company genuinely seemed to care about his well-being even before being signed.

"He got it fixed in two weeks. He got me surgery within two weeks. The last time I broke my knee was right before COVID, it proceeded (to be) some of the worst periods of our lives. The difference in the duty of care. It made sense. Who do you feel more wanted by as a human being? Who do you feel is looking out for you better, your well-being, your physical and mental health? It doesn't make a difficult decision off the back of that, this is where I want to place my career. I still want to work for New Japan, we still hope to do stuff for them," said Mark Davis. [H/T Fightful]

Davis made a full recovery, and Aussie Open went on to win the ROH Tag Team Championships, before losing them to MJF and Adam Cole at AEW All In.

Did you know Tony Khan paid for Mark Davis' surgery? Let us know in the comments section down below!