The Secret Ugly Truth Of Wrestling Bookers
Khan has his quirks. These quirks - the cold and convoluted spreadsheet booking, the feckless way in which he allows his top names to indulge themselves, the rushed nature of his shows and the lack of gravity - are sometimes infuriating.
The one hope is that Khan grew up a fan with wide-ranging niche interests. He's not at all likely to descend into Inokism because he isn't fixated on one philosophy. Evidently, he isn't a Vince McMahon type obsessed with a certain physique. His catch-all philosophy can reek of entitlement - he has appointed himself as the regulator of pro wrestling, almost - and he is accused of being a "money mark". He's beaten with this stick, but it might actually be the solution to the age-old problem.
He does a lot of stuff "for the love of the game", does Tony, and as much as some complain about that - in bad faith or otherwise - it's actually a huge positive for the people who actually give a damn (his fans). You might never see Timothy Thatcher again. You might never see Magnus again. They were hardly an imposition (Thatcher was actually great) and while the presence of the fly-ins can often get in the way of a sustained focus on some under-used wrestlers, another way of looking at it is that, by impulsively using these names, Khan isn't checked out.
He still has a genuine passion to see the wrestling he believes in, and between those names, he's as much a fan of hard-nosed technique as he is high-flying lucha. His giddiness is both feature and bug.
Khan has failed before, in late 2023, and is in the process of a rebooting the promotion under its old values and revisiting the old successes. He's telling and not yet showing, to a degree. Rankings! Tunnels! Double marquee signings!
Perhaps the only way out is up, and the booker must hit rock bottom to render their storytelling a relative improvement.
What of Triple H? Can WWE survive the inevitable?
CONT'D...(4 of 5)