25 Worst Wrestling Moments Of 2024
5. Tony Khan Gets Physical
Tony Khan has - as was cynically predicted on this author's page several years ago - ultimately made just about every mistake every promoter can make, walked back or broken every unrealistic promise made at the launch of All Elite Wrestling, and compromised enough original company values that the AEW today could never be what it strove to be on its first day.
This isn't to knock the AEW president, more to highlight the cold realities of capitalism, pro wrestling, and how the two ultimately always coexist at the expense of the art form. And never was all of the above more evident than when he took a beating too funny to scan as a transgression, and too out-of-nowhere to generate real heat beyond the sheer shock of it all.
In a moment that marked the return of Jack Perry and reintroduction of The Elite as domineering heel authority figures, Khan was punched in the stomach and Meltzer Drivered as Daily's Place devotees looked on. As a non-wrestler, Khan's selling was comedic, undercutting the edge the moment needed and slapping a visual signifier on top of a wider business and creative decline.