Following AEW Double or Nothing on Sunday night from Las Vegas, Tony Khan held a media scrum where he WENT OFF! No, he didn’t go off on MJF, although he probably wanted to. He lost it on a poor reporter who made the mistake of bringing up Eric Bischoff, and holy shit was it awesome.
The outburst reminded me of that time when the Cardinals head coach Dennis Green blew up at a post-game presser after an embarrassing loss. You could hear it in his voice and see it in his eyes, this man, MR. Tony Khan, was angry. He was as angry as some of the users in the comments section of my other articles. But that’s OK, it’s OK to be passionate about something you love, and MR. Tony Khan loves CM Punk.
Now, this is the type of passion I want from my wrestling promoters. I don’t care if his tirade was fueled by 20 cups of coffee, and 10 cans of Red Bulls, or if he snorted a giant rail or two before the scrum. This was a refreshing surprise, and I loved it.
Mr. Tony Khan showed us that he is a man with a true love for his wrestlers and his company. If you mess with his wrestlers, then you are messing with Mr. Tony Khan. It was like that iconic scene in Goodfellas when the late great Ray Liotta (RIP) walked across the street and pistol-whipped his girl’s neighbor to let him know to leave her alone. Forget about it! I want to see Tony Khan do a media scrum every week.
Act 1
Things started off quietly, it was the calm before the storm. A handful of reporters had gathered for a post-show presser that would include the new AEW World Champion CM Punk (which I predicted), TBS Champion Jade Cargill (zZz zZz), and that evil flame-throwing wizard, Chris Jericho. I’ve only seen these kinds of press conferences done after boxing, MMA, and football. I’ve never seen one of these held after a pro wrestling event.
Mr. Khan entered the room appearing to be in high spirits as he took his seat behind a table of three microphones. You could tell that he was amped up, like a musician coming off of the stage after performing in front of a rocking crowd. You could tell he was extremely happy with the show, with his performers, and with himself. He could care less about MJF and all of the troubles of the past 48 hours. It was a moment of joy for Mr. Tony Khan.
And then, well, Mr. Khan was pouring himself a drink when a reporter asked about the MJF situation. I thought that moment of joy was about to burst, but to my surprise, it didn’t. Khan didn’t explode as he could have. He maintained a smile and politely said “I’m not going to comment on that”.
This was obviously the one question on everyone’s mind, nobody cared about CM Punk, Jade Cargill, or Jericho. Everyone in that room was hoping for answers to the real story of the night, the MJF situation. It seemed like the one question that would have set the little guy off, but he didn’t let it get to him. Mr. Tony Khan seemed to maintain his joyful buzz as CM Punk showed up and joined Khan at the table.
Act 2
Tony Khan looked winded as a battered CM Punk took a seat next to his boss. Tony was blinking his eyes rapidly in an odd way, and he kept opening his jacket as if he was burning up. I could tell something strange was about to happen. Khan went from 0-100 in seconds when the subject of Erich Bischoff came up. He was already looking kind of jittery prior to the scrum officially kicking off. It was a nervous energy, maybe he was expecting to get the MJF question multiple times. I don’t know, but something just wasn’t right.
The reporters congratulated Punk on his win and asked him a few softball questions. Khan was all smiles while CM Punk gave his thoughtful responses, and then, BAM! A reporter from some publication that CM Punk apparently has blocked on Twitter started to ask about Bischoff’s claims of Punk being a “financial flop” for AEW. Before CM Punk could get one word out Tony Khan jumped in and blasted the reporter on the mic, “That’s f*cking bullshit!”. His smile was suddenly gone, he was enraged. His eyes started to bulge out of his head as he dropped a grumpy in the reporter’s bed, Amber Turd style. The reporter had no idea how to respond, or if he even should. This man, Mr. Tony Khan, he was mad as hell, and he was about to unload.
Act 3
It was a thing of beauty. The vicious lashing was a slow build-up, as if it were being delivered by a veteran dramatic actor. At first, Mr. Tony Khan calmly explained how he was the only one who could know the truth of the flop claim coming from Eric Bischoff. As Tony went on to defend his newly crowned Champion, he slowly built up to screaming and shouting about public records and Friday Night Wars records in California court (WTF?). His hands became animated with rage, and CM Punk took notice.
Khan’s curly bangs (not sure what his haircut is called) were drooping down in front of his little beady eyes as they turned red with fury. Khan went off the deep end as he rattled off a detailed list of Punk’s accomplishments in AEW to date. Tony Khan flung out F bomb after F bomb, and it was beautiful because it was pure. He was speaking from his heart. Mr. Tony Khan finished off his rant by screaming “LET’S F*CKING GO!” while pounding his little fist on the table.
CM Punk’s facial expressions throughout the rant were pure gold. He obviously wasn’t expecting to see his faithful boss lash out as he did. CM Punk didn’t know that his boss could drop a grumpy that large, and you could tell he loved every second of it.
Give Me More, Please Give Me More!
This is the Tony Khan that I want to see on TV every week. If Mr. Khan had a weekly TV presence on Dynamite or Rampage with the kind of intensity he unleashed at the presser, ratings would be through the roof. I’m there, I would always be there for that.
So, I didn’t watch Double or Nothing, I didn’t need to. The AEW PPV was so predictable that I predicted the winner of every single match. If you don’t believe me, just go back and check out my article on Hangman and CM Punk from over two weeks ago where I specifically stated, “Hangman Adam Page will be losing his AEW World Championship to CM Punk at Double or Nothing this month”.
If I remember correctly, I criticized Mr. Tony Khan’s booking choices. Looking back, I may have taken a grumpy on Mr. Tony Khan and the AEW writing team. I’m here to apologize to you Mr. Tony Khan. I am sorry that I ever doubted your booking abilities. Even though I enjoy AEW very much, I don’t always agree with your decisions. Now that you have shown me the true Tony Khan, I will always have your back, through the good, the bad, and the ugly. Oh, and by the way, congratulations to you CM Punk on winning the AEW World Championship. I predict that you will be losing the belt to Wardlow sometime in the winter of 2022/2023.
