5 Ways AEW's Tony Khan Is A Great Wrestling Booker (& 5 Ways He ISN'T)

1. ISN'T - He Burned Through Everything Too Quickly

It's the ultimate irony: Tony Khan spent years withholding matches for a certain time and place, and yet he burned through so many eventful moments that those matches no longer feel quite as appealing against the backdrop of a tepid product.

Which major free agent signing can at this point possibly compare with the arrival of CM Punk? Will Ospreay is already trending towards the Jerichoverse, and Kazuchika Okada has a suspect history of not going full-pelt in the States.

The First Dance was almost too good, too committed; Punk's debut was framed, almost, as the reason that AEW had existed up to that point. That AEW was the promotion that could coax Punk back situated it as the home of professional wrestling. Then, after darkening the promotion with everything you are exhausted reading about it, he called WWE his home.

It's not just Punk.

Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, Jay White, Ospreay, Okada: with all of these names, in addition to the existing upper bracket of MJF, Hangman Page, Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho and Moxley, Khan has at least nine wrestlers who could conceivably be his Ace figure, the protagonist he could build his television around. What chance, then, do the likes of Konosuke Takeshita have? Can Swerve Strickland truly crack this tier over the long haul?

What chance do the women have of enjoying parity in this promotion?

Jericho and Mox no longer feel as special as they once did. Much of that has to do with the fatigue that will always be felt watching a wrestler do it virtually non-stop for four years. Indeed, this is a problem with AEW generally, about which they can do nothing. Khan, through his impulsive greed, has normalised his stars. Not everybody can be a star; that simply isn't how it works. Khan has ruined the narrative ecosystem of AEW. It is no longer functional.

There is no space for Wheeler YUTA to ascend, for Hangman Page to be the main character, for Kyle Fletcher to actually replace Will Ospreay. Many AEW fans reside now in the aftermath of an intense, bright fireworks display; embers of brilliance still exist, but there's a frazzled, foggy atmosphere that cannot be shaken. Khan can't undo any of this. He can't retroactively book a more disciplined product. Remember how momentous the first AEW cage match felt?

Remember how shocking it was when Jeff Cobb first turned up?

Remember when it felt like the few titles AEW promoted truly meant something?

Khan's enthusiasm and energy might be the core problem. He did so much to bring wrestling back - opening forbidden doors, signing every hot name, embracing every genre - that, after four years, he's left himself with nothing to sell. To conclude, Khan was probably too great a fan-service booker for his own good.

There's a glum aspect to all of this; by smashing it out of the park so often, AEW set a standard for itself that it can perhaps no longer reach.