AEW President Tony Khan has done an excellent job navigating the world of professional wrestling despite being relatively new to the industry. A WWE veteran feels the rising promoter has made one big mistake. The name in question is Vince Russo.
Khan has been a wrestling fan ever since he was a child. From being at ECW events in the mid-1990s to watching New Japan Pro-Wrestling pay-per-views in the mid-2010s, the AEW President has attended several wrestling shows over the years.
He hasn't been running AEW alone, though, as he has had help from Executive Vice Presidents, The Elite. According to wrestling veteran Vince Russo, putting active wrestlers in managerial positions could prove costly for promoters. Here's what he had to say on the Keepin' It 100 podcast:
"It is very difficult to have an active talent be involved in management, and the reason being because we all know the boys, and rightfully so, are going to look out for themselves first. It's a dog-eat-dog world, that's the way the system was set up." [6:06 - 6:27]
Russo added that making active wrestlers executive vice presidents of a wrestling company is a huge mistake that has come back to haunt Khan recently. He highlighted that neither The Young Bucks nor Kenny Omega had any experience in such a role before AEW's formation.
"Tony Khan named three active wrestlers as executive vice presidents, so now, bro, not only do they have a say-so over their character, they've got a say-so over things happening in the company. Plus, they had no experience, they had no experience doing that, so to me, that was a massive, massive error, a mistake that came to bite him in the a**, and he's been paying for it ever since." [6:39 - 7:12]
Tony Khan believes a WWE Hall of Famer has had the best run of his career in AEW
Khan has dealt with numerous setbacks during his time as AEW President. However, he has been integral to the promotion's success. He recently expressed how happy he was about a particular star's run in All Elite Wrestling.
The star in question is WWE Hall of Famer Sting. He joined AEW in December 2020 and has been a significant attraction in the company. During a recent appearance on the Chase McCabe Show, Tony Khan said that Sting's run in All Elite Wrestling had been the best part of The Icon's career.
Sting will continue his exceptional run on Sunday when he and Darby Allin take on Swerve Strickland and AR Fox in the first-ever Tag Team Coffin Match in front of over 80,000 fans at AEW All In.
Do you agree with Tony Khan's comments about Sting? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit "Keepin' It 100" and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling when using quotes from the article's first half.