Konnan Claims AEW Wrestlers Are "Pissed" At Their Booking
Wrestling legend Konnan claims several AEW stars have expressed frustration at their booking.
Professional wrestling legend Konnan has claimed that several AEW wrestlers have expressed unhappiness at how they are being used in the Tony Khan-helmed promotion, doing so to the ex-WCW man personally.
Speaking on a recent episode of his podcast, K100, Konnan stated that he enjoys a good relationship with Khan, AEW's founder and CEO. The two have similar interests and he tries to avoid talking about the wrestling business when with Tony, as he doesn't want to give the impression that he is looking for a job (h/t WrestlingNews.co):-
“I’ve said this a million times. I have no qualms about saying it again. I like Tony Khan. I love talking to Tony because he likes all the same things I do, football, college basketball, not a lot of people like college basketball, he does, college football, you know, wrestling. We like the same movies, comedies, he’s got a really good sense of humor. I try not to talk too much to him about his business and I don’t want him to think that I’m trying to angle for a job."
Konnan then claimed that he spoke to an AEW wrestler that he considers a close friend the last few times he was backstage at the Khan-helmed promotion. Said wrestler asked him if AEW's then-current situation was comparable to WCW, which Konnan affirmed:-
"The last few times I’ve been to, I remember one day, and I won’t even say who the wrestler was, a very good friend of mine, I was backstage in AEW. This was probably a year ago and there were a lot of WWE guys coming in, a lot of new people coming in, and it was the first time the originals were being shoved to the side. Because you can imagine how people like Sonny Kiss and Joey Janella and all these other guys that were there at the beginning and you don’t really see much of them anymore are feeling when all these other people are coming in. But that was going to happen. When you get bigger fish, you’re going to use them.“ He asked me, ‘Is this what WCW was like?’ I go, ‘This is exactly how WCW started to get’, and he was like, ‘Oh (bleep)’.”
Continuing, Konnan stated that during his last AEW visit, multiple wrestlers expressed booking concerns to him. Said wrestlers were supposedly vocal about their issues, claiming unhappiness at how they were being used:-
“Then the last time I was there, bro, you have no idea how many people came up to me and they were pissed about the booking. They weren’t happy how they were being used. They were very, very vocal about it. It’s kind of funny because our boy, I don’t think he gives (bleep), in front of everybody in catering, he came up and he was like, ‘Yeah, thank God Konnan is here. Maybe they’ll use somebody that knows how to book logically.’ I was like, ‘Bro, ixnay that. I’m not here looking for a job.’ So yeah, people are starting to talk.”
Take Konnan's claims, which had not been publically verified at the time of writing, for whatever you think they are worth.
The WCW and lucha libre legend last appeared for AEW in June 2021, featuring alongside established friends Santana and Ortiz, who fell victim to FTR and Tully Blanchard in a backstage ambush.