Authority figures have been a staple of professional wrestling programming for years. The World Wrestling Federation utilized Jack Tunney as its fictional president before the real-life chairman of the company, Vince McMahon, assumed power on screen as well. Simultaneously, World Championship Wrestling President Eric Bischoff brought his backstage role to WCW TV, as he operated as a crooked authority figure on Monday Nitro. This concept carried throughout the 2010s, as World Wrestling Entertainment brought in everyone from Mike Adamle to a laptop to front its programming, while promotions like Total Nonstop Action and Ring of Honor would utilize the likes of Mick Foley and Jim Cornette, respectively.
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Today, on-screen wrestling authority figures have become scarce. WWE first began to retire the concept in December 2018, and longtime NXT General Manager William Regal’s release earlier this year effectively ended authority figures in the company altogether. That said, it doesn’t mean they are absent from professional wrestling entirely.
Over in All Elite Wrestling, Tony Khan is very publicly known as the company’s co-owner, president, chief executive, and general manager. Even with all these titles, Khan largely operates in a behind the scenes capacity.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Khan noted his scarce TV appearances is because he sees himself as a “device.”
“I am a device, and when it is necessary, it can be a very effective one,” Khan said (h/t Wrestling Inc). “We’ve done 160 episodes. I have made all of four appearances in 160 episodes. All of them did about a million [viewers]. Really, every time they were very necessary. Some involved a little bit of talking, some involved really none.”
As Khan noted, those four appearances were all done with purpose.
“The only four times I’ve been on the show were, the most regrettable, was at the end of the Brodie Lee tribute show,” Khan continued. “Then there was the purchase of Ring of Honor, there was the announcement of the Forbidden Door, and there was the announcement of the Grand Slam Tournament of Champions.”
Besides those four, Khan has had some other cameos on AEW programming. In the early days of AEW Dynamite in Fall 2019, Jon Moxley was seen going into Khan’s office to talk about his then-upcoming match with Kenny Omega. Khan’s voice was audible, but he was not shown. Coincidentally enough, Khan cameoed in the immediate aftermath of Omega and Moxley’s rematch over a year later at AEW Dynamite: Winter is Coming 2020, shouting at Omega as he ran off with the AEW World Title.
