Tony Khan Praises AEW Rampage's Premiere, Confirms One Segment Was a Shoot

The premiere of AEW Rampage this past Friday proved to be an eventful one. AEW's second weekly televised series opened with Kenny Omega dropping the Impact World Championship to Christian Cage, handing "The Belt Collector" his first official loss in a singles match since All Out 2019. That was followed by Fuego del Sol failing to win the TNT Championship and an AEW contract by losing to Miro, only for Tony Khan and Sammy Guevara to award him a contract anyway. The show then closed with Britt Baker retaining her AEW Women's World Championship against Red Velvet and gaining a returning Jamie Hayter as her ally.

AEW president Tony Khan spoke with Sports Illustrated shortly after the show ended, giving it a glowing review. He said, "This was one of the biggest nights in the history of the company, and it was a great show. We went in with a tremendous card of three championship matches and a plan to deliver the best one-hour wrestling TV show anyone's seen in a very long time. We needed to hit a home run, and we did. Everyone across the board, including production and staff, did a tremendous job. ... We highlighted our people, and that led to great moments. Tonight was all about showing fans the top stars of AEW, ones that are becoming mainstream names in wrestling and even outside of it, too. This is the perfect time to launch Rampage, and I wanted to go in as hot as possible."

Khan also hinted at what's coming on this coming week's Rampage, where many fans expect CM Punk to finally arrive in the company at the United Center in Chicago — "Next week's Rampage is 'The First Dance', and I think everyone knows what to expect — and everyone is very excited. We built a foundation here for what you're going to see next week. This was a huge premiere, and there is tons of anticipation for next week in Chicago."

The AEW president then revealed that the segment involving Fuego, Guevara and himself was completely legitimate. The masked wrestler had built up a following on Guevara's YouTube vlog and on AEW Dark, but has only won one match in an AEW ring.

"That was a complete shoot," Khan said. "Fuego had no idea that was going to happen. Sammy was the only person I told, and Fuego was legitimately surprised to receive the contract he's been dreaming of and chasing."