15 Misconceptions About AEW You Probably Believe

10. “Tony Khan Can’t Book Big Guys”

AEW, in its infancy, lacked working big men - but this problem was addressed almost as soon as it was possible to do so. Tony Khan struck as soon as Lance Archer and Brodie Lee were available. He made an unsuccessful play for Jeff Cobb earlier than that, too. The old ‘All Petite Wrestling’ nickname was rendered stupid almost immediately; there was simply no genre specialist free in the first half of 2019.

But can Tony Khan effectively book a big man?

Yes and no.

Miro’s decorated Redeemer run was positively awesome. Lance Archer was effectively portrayed as AEW’s Kane: a first challenger for a new World champion, only with infinitely better matches. Samoa Joe was a revelation throughout an otherwise wildly uneven 2023, and an unlikely rehabilitation project was completed when he dethroned World champion MJF at Worlds End. Khan, at his best, isn’t just very good at booking big men - he restored the long-gone aura of the best working big man of the 21st century.

The problem, and this is hardly unique to Tony Khan, is that booking a big man is very diffucult over the long-term in the post-territory era. You can really only hand the giant one whole loss before the narrow range of storytelling possibilities has been exhausted. Consider André the Giant, or most recently WALTER. They flourished as travelling attractions. It’s a lot harder to tell their story on the neverending loop of episodic television. Paul Levesque has done a great job with GUNTHER, but Bobby Lashley? Omos?

The strong base of loyal AEW fans has come to expect an epic dream match main event formula, for better or worse. The hybrid-style super-worker is who they want to see headline pay-per-views, not the giant - and in his defence, Khan switched that up in the first quarter of 2024.