Report: Tony Khan Makes "Last-Minute" AEW TV Changes, Many Creative Plans Unclear Until LATE

By Andy H Murray / May 29, 2024

Tony Khan repeatedly makes last-minute changes to AEW television, leaving many wrestlers in the dark on what they'll be doing on the broadcast until sometimes as close as "an hour or so" before hitting the airwaves, claims Bryan Alvarez.

Alvarez was posting on The Board at F4WOnline/the Wrestling Observer. His post came during a discussion comparing AEW to 2019 WWE, a talking point that became a prominent online discussion point when Wrestlenomics' Brandon Thurston tweeted, on 27 May:

Which more is more similar to 2019 WWE?— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) May 27, 2024

WWE in 2019 was characterised by creative inconsistencies, a lack of regard for the audience, and many a loathed, derided moment, including Goldberg vs. The Undertaker in Saudi Arabia, Kurt Angle's poorly-received retirement angle, and Seth Rollins' Hell in a Cell disqualification vs. The Fiend. Thurston's initial poll came following AEW's Double Or Nothing 2024 pay-per-view, which met criticism for its myriad interference/distraction finishes and long runtime.

At the top of his post, Alvarez stated: "AEW today is a billion times better than WWE in 2019." From there, he lifted the lid on Tony Khan's alleged late changes, including the AEW CEO "switching the script" on Double Or Nothing several times during show day. Every week, "most people" aren't clued-in on show plans until the day of, with Khan booking weekly TV from "show to show":

With that said, Tony switched the script on yesterday's PPV multiple times during the afternoon. Most people, not just the wrestlers, have no idea what they're doing until the day of the show, and sometimes not until an hour or so before the show. People are flown to towns and given nothing to do, others are begged the day before the show to please get to the town so they can do something last-minute. He knows what he wants to do for PPVs (although this often changes), but as far as week-to-week TV, everything is booked show-to-show.

This was a common criticism of WWE in the last few years of Vince McMahon's reign as Chairman and CEO. At times, it felt like barely a week passed without "McMahon makes last-minute changes to WWE Raw!" headlines doing the rounds, sometimes sparking backstage frustration.

Continuing, Alvarez elaborated on how AEW has changed since 2019, claiming people who work for the company talk about the situation "all the time":

For most people he's incredibly difficult to get hold of. In some ways, it legitimately is more like 2019 WWE than it is 2019 AEW, where he was much easier to get hold of, he had very complex long-term storytelling, many people had a good idea of what they were doing and where things were going, and often most of the following week's entire Dynamite card was booked and announced before the previous week's Dynamite had even ended (remember when Excalibur would run down two dozen matches in 30 seconds for the following week?). It's night and day the changes, and people who work for the company, in all roles from the wrestlers to the office, talk about it ALL THE TIME.

As AEW's creative lead, Khan pens and approves over five hours of weekly television (between Dynamite, Collision, Rampage, ROH, and sometimes Battle of the Belts) while building towards a growing volume of annual pay-per-views, attempting to accommodate a bulging talent roster in the process. That his workload has increased immensely since AEW's 2019 launch is unquestionable.

Khan employs a team including QT Marshall, Pat Buck, and Will Washington to assist with creative, talent development, and production, plus a crew of coaches/producers like Jerry Lynn and Dean Malenko. Although Khan holds the final say in AEW, and the specific roles and relationships within the team are difficult to discern, assistance is available to him.

Theoretically, the issues described are fixable. Khan can take steps such as increasing AEW's number of leadership roles and relying more on his existing team to ease his busy schedule, potentially freeing him up to focus on longer-term booking, and keeping wrestlers informed of their impending plans. Whether or not he sees AEW's current creative process as a problem is a different matter entirely, however.