AEW witnessed a number of high-profile departures recently, some of whom are either free agents currently or have already signed up with the competition. All Elite CEO Tony Khan has now explained his thought-process behind the releases in question.
Over the past few weeks, All Elite Wrestling parted ways with a number of formidable names, including former TNT Champion Miro, former World Trios Champion Malakai Black, former World Tag Team Champion Ricky Saints (formerly Ricky Starks), and former International Champion Rey Fenix. In spite of these massive exits, AEW has succeeded at building momentum for a much-anticipated card for fans in LA attending Revolution 2025.
Ahead of the upcoming pay-per-view, All Elite head honcho Tony Khan hosted a media call, during which he was asked about his approach towards the releases alluded to above. Khan responded by claiming that he had made some "philosophical" changes in his decision-making, presumably with respect to such contract situations. He spoke about treating individual negotiations with talent on a case-by-case basis, and explained why he resolved them the way he did.
"I do think it's a case-by-case basis. I think everything is a case-by-case basis, and so much of life is a case-by-case basis. Philosophically, there is a change in what I've been doing. It felt like the right thing for the company and everyone involved at this point. That's the thinking behind that. It's on a case by case basis and they are all different situations. In this case, they did have similar outcomes. It's fair to ask why now and why I wouldn't have done that before. I just decided that's what I thought was the right thing to do at this point," said Khan. [H/T - Fightful]
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Check out Khan speaking about the releases in the video below:
Ever since their releases, Ricky Saints has made his on-screen and in-ring debuts in WWE, and Miro has suffered a disqualification loss to Alberto Del Rio at Qatar Pro Wrestling. However, The Redeemer, like Malakai and Fenix, is rumored to be headed to the Stamford-based company also.
Card for AEW Revolution 2025
The Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, CA will host the 2025 iteration of AEW Revolution this Sunday. Tony Khan and company have developed an incredibly exciting card for the upcoming pay-per-view, including:
- Big Boom AJ, Orange Cassidy and Mark Briscoe vs Johnny TV and MxM Collection (Zero-Hour trios match)
- Hangman Adam Page vs MJF
- Will Ospreay vs Kyle Fletcher (Steel Cage Match)
- Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Brody King (for the Continental Title)
- The Hurt Syndicate (c) (Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin) vs The Outrunners (for the World Tag Team Titles)
- Mercedes Mone (c) vs Momo Watanabe (for the TBS Title)
- Swerve Strickland vs Ricochet (World Title number one contender's bout)
- Toni Storm (c) vs Mariah May (Falls Count Anywhere 'Hollywood Ending' match for the Women's World Title)
- Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs Kenny Omega (for the International Title)
- Jon Moxley (c) vs Adam Copeland (for the AEW World Title).
It remains to be seen what the Jacksonville-based company has planned for their March 9 PPV.