10 Things You Only Learn Attending AEW LIVE

4. Tony Khan's Cameos

House Of Black
AEW

Tony Khan is actually growing more comfortable in an onscreen capacity.

In pre-taped promos, making his announcements, he cuts a composed and distinguished figure who can convey a message directly. This is a potential worry. Khan has already fallen into too many of the traps that catch out every promoter in time. Stipulation overload. Too many titles created to appease a massive roster. A stubborn refusal to abandon his favourite tropes (this man does not get bored of interference). He couldn't possibly do what Eric Bischoff, Vince McMahon and Dixie Carter all did and make himself an onscreen character, could he?

Given his very endearing but also very eccentric live appearances, probably not. In the nicest possible way, from one awkward guy to another, Tony Khan comes out to thank the crowd for turning up - and is a bit weird.

It's great that he's still passionate, when working with politicking, combustible wrestlers for four years should give him every reason to be a cynical husk, but the man cannot control the volume of his voice. He also performs very strange, seemingly involuntary movements with his limbs. He's not a natural performer, to put it MILDLY. Capitalising that last word was strange, no?

That's Tony in person.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!