As we previously reported here on eWn, Tony Khan, the CEO of AEW and the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Chief Strategy Officer, made headlines for wearing a neck brace during the 2024 NFL Draft.
An NFL interviewer drew attention to Khan’s attire and asked Brian Thomas Jr., a Jaguars draft pick, about it. This came after Khan was attacked by The Elite on AEW Dynamite last Wednesday, prompting concern from fans and media alike.
Thomas Jr. stated, “Hope you’re good. Hope you shake back from your injury and speedy recovery.”
You can check out the clip below:
Brand new @Jaguars WR Brian Thomas Jr sends his warm wishes to Tony Khan, after Khan suffered a dastardly attack from the hands of The Elite.@AEW | @youngbucks | @boy_myth_legend pic.twitter.com/UL8Wo1Yj1j
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) April 26, 2024
Former AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa and IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Nic Nemeth reacted to Tony Khan’s brace on a recent edition of the “Busted Open Radio” podcast.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
Nic Nemeth on enjoying Tony Khan wearing the neck brace during the NFL Draft: “As a fan of when things are gimmicky or bad or slap-you-in the face, I’m very disgusted with it most of the time, when you see that handily happen. This happening makes me smile so much, that there is part of our business, one, being talked about. That is fantastic, any publicity is almost always good publicity, especially for AEW. But I live for it. I love it, I love when this happens. A friend of mine had to wear a neck brace in New York for six or eight months for a while. He still got in trouble for it because he wasn’t doing it right. But it didn’t matter. When you live for it and you live to go, this is my job, and I take it very seriously, I will protect it, I love that part. I love that this is happening, it’s like Andy Kaufman wrestling women on TV. Let’s bring it back, let’s make it real, put him on the Tonight Show.”
Thunder Rosa on how this was a perfect example of cross-promotion for AEW: “For me, it’s like we have received a lot of criticism that we’re not doing a great job on cross-promoting AEW. This is a perfect example on how to cross-promote in different companies, especially knowing that Tony Khan is extremely involved in soccer and in football now. The important thing is like, they’re gonna be like, ‘So what happened?’ They’re gonna research AEW, they’re gonna see the video, so they’re gonna get more hits on the video. From that, they can probably get more fans that are NFL fans to watch AEW. I think that’s the very important part on how this is working.”
Rosa on finding the moment funny: “For me, it was really funny. I was not expecting it. I was there when this happened, and I was in shock. I was in the doctor’s room when he was brought into the doctor’s room. Tony Khan collapsed in the doctor’s office after what just happened with The Elite. Also, another thing with the Elite, people were hating them a lot, but I think there’s now a real reason to hate them. The storyline makes sense, and I think a lot of the stuff that was questionable was after that video, where it was like, where’s this gonna go? Well, now I know where it’s gonna go. They’re against the boss.”
AEW announced that former AEW World Champion Kenny Omega will appear on next week’s episode of Dynamite in his hometown of Winnipeg.
During a recent Twitch stream, Omega commented on his upcoming return, noting how he informed AEW and Tony Khan that he would be at the show after Canada Life Centre initially advertised his appearance.
He said, “Big news, don’t know if you guys heard it. Kind of surprised to hear it. I remember thinking about maybe, maybe showing up to Winnipeg. It was a maybe. It was really just a maybe. My sister, my parents, my aunt were like, ‘Oh my goodness, we heard the big news.’ ‘What? What big news?’ ‘The arena is advertising your return.’ I’m like, ‘Come on, man.’ I’m 80% on board, maybe. I don’t know, man. I thought, ‘Well, they advertised me,’ that 80 (percent) becomes 100 (percent). I called the boss, ‘Hey man, if you want to run a graphic or something, I guess I’ll show up.’”
AEW Dynamite, featuring Omega’s highly anticipated return, is scheduled for Wednesday, May 1, at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg.
