Tony Khan Made the Biggest Mistake of his Career

Okay, I saw the video. And honestly, it was not revolutionary. It felt like a backstage segment before a commercial that gets the audience hyped up to stay tuned in just before a commercial break. Oh, that’s right, not everyone will understand what video I’m talking about, or what in the future. Some wouldn’t know which video Tony Khan put on that was the biggest mistake of his career. So far. So let’s clarify some things and move this through.

It’s important to remember that not everyone lives in our little wrestling world bubble. Each fan has their own lives, and wrestling was always something that many used to escape reality. The idea of hardcore fans wanting their company has always been there, but the average fan not on the internet has a hard time events. The average fan isn’t debating wrestling on Twitter, or watching every shoot interview on YouTube. So it surprises me that Tony Khan would make the move he made, to expose the business, make one of his Four Pillars look weak, and highlight a star from another company.

The Video

So in the video, you see CM Punk and Jack Perry confront each other. Punk pie faced Perry, then putting him in a front face lock. Was that appropriate behavior in a work environment, no. But in the world of wrestling, fans see that every week. To show that video in the context of the show already sets you up to have fans de-sensitized to the whole situation. From Steve Austin breaking into Brian Pillman’s house, to beating Vince McMahon up at the hospital, a video like that would have been used to get Austin over as a take no shit bad ass. This was highlighted when the fans chanted CM Punk later in the show.

Tony Khan succeed in getting CM Punk over. For the average fan not doing research before shows, or who lives on Twitter, what they saw would make the average person want to see CM Punk. Punk simple went to Perry, had a confrontation and choked him out with people breaking it up. This is something we see weekly before a commercial on Raw. What was shown is used as a hook. This is what we cheer every week when it’s our favorite wrestler!

Storyline Aftermath

The Young Bucks are now using this to justify losing a match. Jack Perry will be coming back soon doing a scapegoat gimmick. To be honest, these are very lame uses of this situation. Tony Khan badly doesn’t want to be boo’d, he wants to keep his record in tact as a great booker. But instead what has happened is they showed a video which made Punk look like an anti-hero, and Khan fired him over it. It’s like Steve Austin and Vince McMahon going at it backstage and Vince finally firing him. If Austin wasn’t going to comeback, then the storyline didn’t make sense. In this case, Tony Khan used the Bucks to get heel heat, but there is no pay off.

In the end, this ends up as a cheap ratings pop. Tony Khan felt he needed to get some eyeballs to AEW. But many felt that this was the worst AEW Dynamite show they’ve ever seen. If you are going to pop a rating, then you have to make sure the people are treated to a good show. On paper, that’s exactly what it looked like, Samoa Joe defends his title, Toni Storm, FTR, Jericho shining light on younger talent. But the execution was terrible. Putting Joe against Cody’s older brother felt like you getting generic Rhodes, RC Cola instead of Coke. Even if AEW could offer Pepsi, they’d be much better off, but instead the best they have is RC Cola.

RC Cola

When TNA competed with WWE, they struggled with looking legitimate. When Daniel Bryan had the Yes Movement, TNA had Eric Young, which again felt like RC Cola. Now don’t get me wrong, Eric Young winning the TNA title to me was long overdue. An incredible worker. But it felt RC Cola when you placed his story next to Daniel Bryan’s. This is not to say that alternatives always fail. For example, WCW was able to push Goldberg as a Pepsi alternative. It can work.

When Punk was a free agent, I once said in the old message board, he’s the only draw left in wrestling. CM Punk has a following like no other, a following that transcends companies. So when he went to AEW, it wasn’t seen as an old WWE star, it felt like the leader of the movement had finally found the people. AEW and CM Punk felt like a perfect pair. The brand trying to be Pepsi, with the man who has Pepsi tatted to his body. But it wasn’t to be.

Tony Has to Give Up Control

I think it’s clear, Tony has to give up control. He has to stop running the day to day. He needs to find the best people for the job. Right now, Triple H is finding a team to work with, to make WWE great. When Vince put together the Attitude Era, it was a collection of people. It feels like Tony Khan is out of ideas. It felt like before, when he needed a ratings pop, he announced a special announcement; in fact he did this so much it became a meme. Now he doesn’t know what to do, and that clashes with his leaderships style. He’s in control, and when things go wrong, he takes more control. The fact is he needs less control. He seems like a very nice guy, but he can’t keep this up.

Paul Heyman is not walking through that door, but many other great talents are still available. Its up to Tony to identify someone. He currently has one of the greatest talent relations minds right now on his payroll. Have Good Ol’ Jim Ross work with the Talent Relations department. Obviously his health would keep him from running day to day opperations. But Ross’s knowledge is so important right now, that backstage fight between Perry and Punk would have been what Jim Ross calls Wednesday. Tony has people, but he has to trust them, lean into them. Ross is someone who can teach the next generation of backstage workers.

I Don’t Want AEW to Fail

AEW can’t fail. They provide jobs to people who’d be unemployed due to WWE’s monopoly. But they are making so many unforced errors. This will keep people from tuning back each week. And that’s not what anyone wants. The business needs AEW to thrive. Jobs are depended, talent wants to work, and putting more wrestling on TV to attract fans is critical to building a fanbase. AEW needs to succeed. But what this last week told me, they wouldn’t, until Tony Khan hires real wrestling people to do real wrestling things.

For the business Tony, we need you to admit to yourself, you’re out of ideas. You need some help Tony. Don’t listen to the Bucks, but instead listen to those who have been there before. You are not getting Cody back. And that’s okay. But please Tony, get real people who know how to fill up buildings, and draw money. Last weeks AEW made their first round of cuts, as a way to save budget for bigger free agents. If buildings were full, those wrestlers get to keep their jobs and Tony could still sign big free agents and license music rights deals. We need AEW. Just because WWE is hot, their business will cool off too. Eventually WWE will feel lame and stale again, and this is when we need AEW to be that alternative. Be Pepsi when Coke 2 flops. But Tony needs the right people behind him.