Following The Elite’s attack on Tony Khan on this week’s AEW Dynamite where he was blindsided by Jack Perry and the Young Bucks who hit him with a “TK Driver” (formerly the Meltzer Driver), Khan appeared on night one of the NFL Draft with a neck brace. The aftermath of Dynamite and the events that followed created a massive interest for AEW and now the AEW President has appeared on the NFL Network to discuss the situation.
He explained that he has a “complicated relationship” with Matthew and Nicholas Jackson and Jack Perry. After Perry’s suspension following AEW All In last August, he appeared in New Japan Pro Wrestling, one of AEW’s allies, and ripped up his contract straight into the camera. He reappeared at AEW Dynasty last weekend to help the Young Bucks become three-time World Tag Team Champions and has been by their side ever since. “I reinstated him Wednesday night on TBS by his own request,” Khan said. “He repaid me by hitting me in the stomach with a microphone and then Matt and Nick pulled me up and gave me the Tony Khan Driver which is really just a spiked pile driver, it’s one of the deadliest moves in pro wrestling. It’s banned in a lot of states; it’s illegal in the state of Tennessee.”
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Khan continues, admitting that for them to do that in front of millions of people around the world and in front of his family scared him as much as it did his family. His father, owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars Shahid Khan, appeared at the end of the show when the locker room spilled out to check on Khan. “I just feel really lucky I’m here at the NFL Draft with the Jaguars and able to still be working at the Jaguars and AEW right now.”
In addition, Khan touted the success of AEW, calling it the most successful sports startup since the AFL. While he believes they are like the Pepsi of professional wrestling, Khan says they’re up against a “really evil juggernaut” in WWE. “WWE is our competitor, that’s who we’re facing. AEW, like the Pepsi of pro wrestling. WWE’s like the Harvey Weinstein of pro wrestling. I’m really proud of what we do down here.”
You can watch the full NFL Network segment with Khan below…
AEW returns for a second night of action at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida tomorrow night for AEW Collision at 8 p.m. ET on TNT. So far matches that have been announced include the debut of the Grizzled Young Vets against homegrown tag team The Acclaimed, AEW Women’s World Champion “Timeless” Toni Storm defending against Anna Jay, the new World Champion Swerve Strickland speaking for the first time since winning the championship and Bullet Club Gold vs. Action Andretti and Top Flight for the Unified Trios Championships.
Stay tuned to Comicbook.com for more news on AEW.
