10 Wrestlers Who Turned Heel On AEW

1. Tony Khan

Bret Hart
AEW

...but only because he earnestly knew there were better days ahead than some of the company's earliest ones.

Tony Khan never out-and-out heeled on his passion project, but he's since spoken honestly about a late-2019 judgment call to take a firmer hand in the creative process.

As he put it when speaking frankly to Marc Marton for his WTF Podcast;

"I was already kind of overseeing the creative process but I really became a lot more hands on with it going into 2020. So it was Christmas 2019, I was kicking myself because I really didn't like the way the show went the week before, and I really didn't like the rating, and I felt like we could do better, and I just wanted to hold myself and everyone to account...there needed to be consistency to it, that there was continuity problems and there was a sense of things that it just needed to flow through one person and then that one person was gonna be you because that's where the buck stops."

For somebody who's known mostly for the word "great" when talking anything AEW and occasionally overplaying his hand promoting big events, this sobering reflection gave the world a glimpse at the realist behind the unique idealist.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 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. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. 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