Tony Khan Regrets Matt Hardy's Teleportation AEW Debut

AEW News - Tony Khan wishes Matt Hardy's AEW debut went differently to what went down.

by Andrew Pollard
Matt Hardy AEW
AEW

When Matt Hardy made his AEW bow in March of last year, certain wrestling fans were a tad taken aback by the teleporting ways of the Broken One. Given how AEW had set out its mission statement of being a more grounded wrestling product, seeing Hardy teleport from place to place felt a little out of place.

Using the benefit of hindsight, AEW President Tony Khan has admitted that he wasn’t actually a fan of that segment.

Speaking on Chris Jericho’s Talk is Jericho podcast - as picked up on by Fightful - Khan explained:

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“That was your [Jericho’s] idea. There’s stuff like that, those are the things I tried to do a lot less of this year, honestly. That’s a good example. There’s stuff like that, where somebody had something and I knew I was sceptical going in and I talked myself into it, and I wouldn’t have done it.”

Khan would add:

“That’s a perfect example of where I wish we hadn’t done it, but it was my fault. If I really believed it that strong, I should have stood up and said it. Your idea was good, but the way we executed it on short notice, it didn’t really look right. It was tough.”

Matt Hardy’s AEW debut came at a time when the company had to adjust to the ongoing global pandemic that was unfurling – and Tony Khan praised AEW’s production team with doing the best possible job given the restrictions that were forced upon them.

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During his chat with Jericho, Khan also seemed to reiterate plenty of what he’d said during his recent appearance on Renee Paquette’s Oral Sessions podcast, with him talking about becoming more and more comfortable with trusting his gut and not being afraid to say no to an idea that gets floated by him.

As for Hardy, he'll be in action against 'Hangman' Adam Page in just a matter of hours on tonight's broadcast of AEW Dynamite.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.