At various points throughout AEW's six-year history, Tony Khan has exerted different amounts of control over the company's creative process. There have been times when Khan is the sole creative figure booking the show, while there were also points when he was taking a lot of input. Speaking at the post-Forbidden Door media scrum, Khan elaborated on the perceived dip in quality that culminated in his decision to outline every show himself once again.
"With the best of intentions, last year, [I] went out there and I tried to get really collaborative," Khan said. "I said, 'Let's all do a lot of Zoom [meetings] and I want to hear everybody's ideas, and I'm gonna take every suggestion. ... It's a lot different than how I did the show, especially in the pandemic."
Khan stated that he had a "realization" about AEW's creative direction in early 2020 that led him to move away from booking by committee, and he had a similar revelation at the end of last year that resulted in him taking a more direct hand in booking again.
Khan still takes suggestions from backstage figures and performers on the roster, so it isn't a complete one-man show. However, he goes into those conversations with an existing idea of what he wants to happen.
"It's good to hear peoples' ideas, but it's probably better to put the outline together and then talk to everybody, versus having 86 people throwing in ideas," Khan stated. "All the credit, really, should go to the wrestlers and the fans because, this year, the level of wrestling on the show has been the best it's ever been."
According to Khan, the worst episode of "Seinfeld" is the second-to-last, and there's a very specific reason why. It had the most writers out of any single episode, with everyone trying to get a joke or two in, and he believes the same type of thing can happen in wrestling. Since he's taken more singular control over booking again, Khan feels the AEW ship has been set on the right path.
