Since Mariah May’s debut in AEW last November as an “obsessed fan” of AEW Women’s World Champion “Timeless” Toni Storm, their wrestling storyline has captivated wrestling fans around the globe. In the early days, many fans pointed to specific Hollywood projects that they had clearly drawn inspiration from: 1950’s All About Eve from director Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Sunset Boulevard by Billy Wilder. Storm’s character certainly leans into those old Hollywood tropes heavily, especially with her gear that is very Hollywood glamour-esque. AEW President Tony Khan admits that he wasn’t alone in developing the storyline, in fact he actually had help from a backstage AEW personality.
Tony Khan Discusses How AEW’s Greatest Women’s Story Came To Be
“My right hand in all of this is RJ,” Khan revealed to Sports Illustrated. “He was the only person in the office who’d seenย All About Eveย andย Sunset Boulevard, and he understood old Hollywood and the old movies. He’s been so valuable and tremendous throughout this process. He has a great aptitude for wrestling, and he was also able to use these movies for inspiration.“
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RJ was hired by AEW back in 2022 to help do content for the company with the Road To series where he picks up wrestlers and drives them around. That then led to the formation of the hit weekly YouTube show Hey! EW where RJ sits down with a different professional wrestler and asks them various questions. It’s become a hit amongst the fans who look forward to it and it helped him land a spot on the broadcasting side of things when when Renee Paquette came into the fold. During pay-per-view weekends, the two can usually be seen on AEW’s Zero Hour chatting about the biggest matches of the night.
Prior to signing with AEW he had been with WWE for roughly a year creating digital content, including sketches like WrestleMania After Dark with RJ City for WrestleMania 37 and a segment on The Bump, “Wednesday Morning Wake-Up,” where he interviewed WWE superstars and celebrities.
“The pandemic was still going on and it was slowly ending and then I tweeted something about one of those pitches that never made it, and next thing I know Tony Khan slid into my DMs and [asked if I was still with WWE],” RJ told AEW Unrestricted in March of 2023. “Then, he said ‘Do you wanna come do this, come do sit down interviews?’ It was the Road To where I was the chauffeur on the Road To Revolution and he had known of my work. I don’t understand how he knew of it, but he has an excellent comedy brain.
He has his comedy brain, he knew kinda exactly what he wanted from me. Three weeks went by and I didn’t hear anything, so again, [I was like] ‘I have done something that has upset these people.’ Maybe Tony Schiavone said ‘No, not this guy.’ [laughs]. Next thing I know, we’re at Revolution, right before it. We’re at Dark, im sitting in a SUV in a chauffeur hat with a crew and I’m going ‘No one’s gonna wanna do this. This is not gonna go well.’ Then, Paul Wight sat in the car and we had a nice time and that was that” (h/t: Fightful).
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