Tony Khan loves Dustin Rhodes and says he has been an important part of AEW since they launched back in 2019.
Khan spoke about The Natural during his recent appearance on Sports Guys Talk Wrestling, where he praised Rhodes for his longevity in the business, even complimenting him for being in better shape later in his career. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
How much he respects Rhodes:
Dustin Rhodes is one of the best pro wrestlers in my lifetime. I’ve been looking up to Dustin Rhodes since I first started watching pro wrestling, he’s one of the first wrestlers I ever saw and throughout his career, he’s maintained a really high standard of excellence, physical fitness right now is at a premium. I think Dustin, right now, these last ten years is in much better shape than he was in the decade prior to that which is unusual and his staying power, his longevity is also really unusual.
Says Rhodes has been very important on-screen and off-screen in AEW:
To have somebody doing some of their best wrestling at this advanced age, it’s unusual. I think Dustin could continue on for many, many years and wrestle at a very high standard for a long time to come. I respect the hell out of Dustin Rhodes. I can tell you [show host] also respect the hell out of him. He’s just a tremendous, tremendous wrestler and I think he’s somebody that really, really, for AEW, since the very beginning has been very important on-screen and off-screen.
(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling
)