AEW President Tony Khan did a recent interview with CBS Sports’ Shakiel Mahjouri to talk about a wide range of topics. Here are the highlights:
Who he wants to push in 2022:
“I think for a variety of reasons, there’s a number of people I’m excited to feature in the coming year,” Khan said. “For example, it was completely out of everyone’s control, but Darius Martin has been out injured and I think he’s tremendous. I would love to get him back soon and teaming with his brother, Dante. Dante has become a big star and I think they were tremendous as a tag team.
“When the injury happened, Darius was 21 and Dante was 19. Now Dante is 20 and has been featured so much on Dynamite and Rampage and has now been a main eventer on Dynamite. When Darius comes back, I think he’s somebody that could come in and be great for us. So I’m really excited about him in particular. That’s an important name to keep an eye on.”
Whether he has his next four world champions planned out yet:
“I think a lot has changed in recent months and some huge stars have come into AEW. The No. 1 contender now is Bryan Danielson,” Khan said. “I think that’s the biggest rivalry in AEW and maybe all of wrestling right now. Bryan Danielson vs. ‘Hangman’ Page. Bryan Danielson, I can tell you officially as the rankings committee, Bryan Danielson is still the No. 1 contender, and I’m very excited for the resolution of this situation…
“So any plans that we might’ve had in advance really have to go out the window when you have such a great No. 1 contender stepping into the situation. And so many other huge wrestlers have joined AEW just in recent months. Huge names like CM Punk, Adam Cole, Malakai Black, Andrade El Idolo and many others. There is a great title picture and a lot of other great wrestlers in AEW who I think could be great champions like PAC, MJF, Jungle Boy, the TNT champion Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin and so many other great wrestlers potentially who could step up.”
Serena Deeb’s role behind-the-scenes:
“Serena Deeb is a great coach and has a great mind for wrestling and is very involved backstage as far as in the women’s division. She’s got a great presence and has a great mind,” Khan said. “So she’s somebody who has coached matches, but not just in the women’s division. Serena also coaches matches in the men’s division. She’s got a great head for it.”
