AEW star and former NXT cruiserweight champion Lio Rush issued a statement on his personal Twitter earlier today alerting fans and media that he has spoken to Tony Khan since the AEW President’s harsh tweet towards Big Swole, and believes that they are on the correct path towards “positive change.”
I want this to be clear..
I do not consider this to be a diversity issue, and I at no point have thought or said that AEW or Tony is racist. We can all clearly see that wrestling as a whole and the AEW roster is perpetually diverse. The issue at hand was a racial insensitivity issue. Having spoken to Tony and Megah, we have discussed the endeavors to further understand the struggles of the black community. I am grateful to be able to understand more about Tony and Megah’s own ethnic backgrounds and glad that they are actively seeking input from an African American perspective.
I am proud to work for a boss and company that try to make these strides in social equality. I look forward to working with Tony to keep making these steps towards positive change. I pray that 2022 is a year of positive change in all aspects. Happy New Year and GOD BLESS.
In case you hadn’t heard former women’s division star Big Swole shared some criticisms of her experience in AEW
, and how she believes the company suffers from some structure and diversity issues. Khan would respond by saying that Swole’s contract was not renewed due to her wrestling “not being good enough.” This led to a ton of fan backlash, as well as several tweets from Rush who demanded that Khan apologize, as well as a different kind of response from Powerhouse Hobbs. You can see Rush’s latest below.