Tony Khan, by all accounts, is a nice guy. In fact, in a business with an extensive history of most promoters as shady con men that wanted first count of the box office ahead of the performers that bled for that night’s draw, Tony is an exception to that rule. Don Owen, Sam Muchnick, and a few others were also well-respected promoters from a previous generation. But, generally speaking, the promoters and the talent were always more or less at odds over paydays in some form or fashion.
Perhaps, the fact that money is no object for Khan because he’s from a billionaire family, is why he seems to be more than accommodating with the talent. It might be cringe worthy to see him hug his entire roster at the exhausting post-PPV press conferences, but you can tell the guy genuinely cares about the talent that opted to sign a contract with his organization. On a few occasions, injuries happened and Khan kept those performers on the payroll.
Again, Khan doesn’t need All Elite Wrestling for financial security so he appears to have a much more casual approach to how he runs it, and there are both negatives and positives to that. At the very least, as I’ve written on several occasions, Tony’s willingness to fund a pro wrestling project in an attempt to spark the industry is commendable, even if it renders the organization a national vanity project. His fandom motivated him to give the fans and the wrestlers an alternative, which he deserves credit for.
But, is Tony Khan the devil?
No, this isn’t some weird accusation from pro-WWE fans online or a Wendy’s-fueled rant from legendary manager, Jim Cornette. As we get closer to the Worlds End pay-per-view at the end of the month in MJF’s hometown of Long Island, New York, it looks like the direction of All Elite television is finally building to the reveal of who is under the devil mask as the leader of the mysterious faction that continues to have more of a presence on the shows in recent weeks. For those that might’ve seen my column prior to the Full Gear pay-per-view, I mentioned that the show, particular after the already crowded PPV schedule this year, lacked a major selling point outside of the reveal of who was under the devil mask. I explained that the success of the event, in terms of if it would justify the $50 price tag, would probably be determined by who was underneath the mask. As we know, there was no reveal, and the overall booking of the show, including the tedious main event where Jay White worked over MJF’s previously injured leg for almost thirty minutes, was rather forgettable. The Full Gear show might be remembered for the gory Swerve/Adam Page Texas Deathmatch, but that might not be a good thing, depending on your perspective.
Within recent weeks, there was speculation about who was under the mask during television appearances and who the stablemates are in the outfits in the ring. A few weeks ago, I penned an article about the speculation that Jack Perry might be the devil, based on fan speculation online that the laugh during a promo segment sounded similar to Perry. There was definitely a similarity, but I detailed why a Jack Perry reveal would flop like The Black Scorpion did in WCW a few decades ago. It was thought that based on boots worn by one of the masked men that Wardlow could be involved in the faction, which is possible given his history with MJF, but that doesn’t mean that he would be the leader since Wardlow isn’t in a position to have enough star power to be a credible reveal as the one under the devil mask.
I must say that I really think they’ve stretched the reveal of who is under the mask too long because the longer the build up, the bigger the expectations are for the surprise of who will be used in the leader role. Granted, it’s good to keep fans guessing, especially in the modern era, and it makes sense to use different performers under the outfits to avoid too many clues being discovered, but at the same time, there must be a payoff that justifies the hype behind it.
At this point, I don’t think there’s a realistic option for the reveal that would live up to the hype around it. Sure, they could go with MJF to explain that he was who he said he was all along, but as I wrote before, that would almost be too obvious so it’d probably be a letdown. Granted, I still think that the entire MJF/Adam Cole angle is silly and actually hindered more than helped both of them. There are a slew of recently released WWE stars that will be on the free agent market after their 90-day non-compete clauses expire, but there wouldn’t be a logical reason that they would be under the mask. Using a recently released WWE talent for that role might get the artificial debut pop, but there would be no substance for the payoff.
It would be as cringe worthy as the countless hugs at the press conference, but I think it’s at least possible, and would make sense, if Tony Khan is the person under the devil mask. First and more importantly than any storyline logic, it’s obvious that Tony wants to recreate his favorite wrestling moments in AEW. There’s a reason he made a reference to Shane McMahon when he announced that he bought Ring Of Honor, because he wanted to attempt to make it comparable to when WCW was purchased. He touted Sting being back on the Turner networks, and even hired the Tony Schiavone after the former WCW broadcast had been away from the industry for almost twenty years. Don’t get me wrong, Schiavone probably should’ve had a job somewhere in the post-WCW era, but he was hired by Khan because he was an announcer on Nitro. Ric Flair was signed so that he could recreate a Nitro moment with Sting in an AEW ring.
The heel owner, as cliche and recycled as it is, was a staple of the wrestling boom of the 90s. I don’t think it’d be too much of an assumption that Tony would at least consider the chance to play a role similar to Vince McMahon or Eric Bischoff during the Monday night wars. The next step from playing wrestling promoter would be playing an on-screen character on the wrestling show. That being said, it would probably be a complete disaster, as Tony doesn’t have the experience to be a character for a national organization. Obviously, his fandom is great and it’s good to hype the crowd for a live event, but on-camera stuff is a different experience level. Again, Tony qualifications for running AEW were that he was a big fan and his family has billions of dollars. He doesn’t have the experience of cutting promos on live television to be used in a major angle. But, Tony is the boss and if he wants a main role on the television show, it’s one of the perks of the job.
It remains to be seen if it will happen, but it actually would be a logical reveal. Keep in mind, Maxwell Jacobs Friedman reportedly threatened to no-show the Double or Nothing pay-per-view last year unless he was given a better contract. He no-showed an autograph signing before he put Wardlow over in the opening match at the PPV. However, the story was about Friedman’s contract dispute, not Wardlow, and thus Wardlow has floundered since that time. Aside from a profanity-laced promo on an episode of Dynamite, MJF disappeared from All Elite programming for a few months until he was originally revealed underneath the devil mask when he won a ladder match to get a shot at the world championship. As we know, Friedman won the title and still has it based on that series of events so Tony Khan getting revenge for the problems that MJF caused would make sense.
It would get heat, mostly because the even the most diehard All Elite fans would have to admit that it would be a vanity project decision, but heat is heat, and at this point, the company needs something to generate some hype. It will be interesting to see who is actually revealed to be under the mask and if it justifies the hype because depending on if it does, it could have a major affect on the momentum of the company next year.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
