10 Wrestlers Tony Khan Banned From AEW

1. The Elite

CM Punk Tony Khan The Elite
AEW/Lee South

The Elite have twice been asked to formally exit the room in AEW, with the first case of Tony Khan taking control no longer spoken about compared to the drama and chaos of 2022.

It was back over the television break between 2019 and 2020 where Khan made the (in hindsight, fantastic) decision to take primary control over all of AEW’s creative direction rather than allowing the whole show to be booked by a committee featuring the company namesakes.

Questions were asked of the creative process after a string of dodgy booking decisions relating to the likes of Kenny Omega's (worked) indifferent form, The Dark Order's dominance and The Nightmare Collective's very existence resulted in Wednesday rival NXT gaining an elusive viewership and demographic ratings victory on December 18th.

It was aggressively reset in the new year, with the build to Revolution specifically reflecting a removal of some cooks from the kitchen and a direction only slightly harmed by the unpredictability of the impending pandemic.

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett