Will WWE Work With AEW Now That Vince McMahon is Gone?
Vince McMahon has stepped down from all his positions in the WWE, putting Stephanie McMahon (Co-CEO and Chairwoman), Nick Khan (Co-CEO) and Paul Levesque (Head of Talent Relations and Creative) in charge. Fans are already wondering what kind of changes this will mean for the company, including how it interacts with other promotions. WWE has worked with other promotions in the past, but it has tended to keep its distance away from AEW beyond the casual mention and a few former stars popping up on WWE for video packages.
AEW President Tony Khan spoke with NBC Sports Boston's Steve Fall this week and was asked if the WWE/AEW relationship will change now that the former is under new management. Khan didn't seem too optimistic about the possibility.
"I'm not sure if that's the case, but I would certainly be open to talk with pretty much any wrestling promotion in the world about how to work together if the circumstances are right," Khan said "We've worked with, I would say, in terms of securing footage or providing talent with probably a dozen companies around the world, including Ring of Honor before I was the owner, when they were owned by Sinclair. I'd like to think that was positively received by them and we did things to help them out when they were in tough times and I think that goodwill helped us in the sale process."
He was also asked to give his two cents on McMahon's retirement announcement, as it comes just as he is being investigated by the WWE Board of Directors (and now federal prosecutors and the SEC) over paying millions of dollars in hush money to keep sexual misconduct accusations quiet.
"I believe there are a lot of great wrestling fans all over the world who follow pro wrestling closely and there have been shake-ups. I've definitely followed that promotion since I was a small kid and it will be interesting to see how things turn out in the world of pro wrestling. I'm a big fan of pro wrestling all over the place, not just AEW and not just Ring of Honor. We work with New Japan Pro Wrestling and a lot of other great companies all over the world. We'll see what's to be held for the future of the pro wrestling business, but I'm glad AEW and Ring of Honor are a huge part of it," Khan said.
