WWE and AEW have been locked in heated competition, starting even before the days of "AEW Dynamite" going head-to-head against "WWE NXT" before the developmental brand moved to Tuesday nights. Despite the change, WWE continues to schedule shows on important dates for AEW, including the recent "NXT" versus TNA "Showdown" special that went head-to-head with AEW's "Title Tuesday" special, when "Dynamite" had to switch up nights due to the MLB playoffs.
AEW President Tony Khan recently sat down on "The Ariel Helwani Show" and spoke with the host about all things wrestling, and addressed former AEW star Matt Hardy's previous comments on the show. Hardy said that he believed the WWE and TNA partnership might have been created to hurt AEW.Khan said that he loves both Matt and Jeff Hardy despite their AEW departures, and said he didn't find the comments to be malicious.
"I respect that opinion a lot," he said. "I think it's probably true, and I respect that Matt said it, honestly, that's really cool... I think it's a very interesting collaboration. I think Matt hit the nail on the head that it makes sense, and AEW is a very strong challenger brand, and it's not that unusual."
Khan said he takes it as a compliment, and compared it to back when WCW was starting to take off, and Smokey Mountain Wrestling was running shows to compete with the promotion. He explained that Vince McMahon sent WWF wrestlers to the promotion to compete with WCW, and it's not uncommon to see WWE collaborate with another company when there's a challenger brand.
"So, it's not that unusual, and again, I don't take it personally at all," Khan said. "It makes sense, looking at the wrestling playbook of the WWF."
Helwani then asked Khan about the viral photo former AEW World Champion CMPunk posted to Instagram following the most recent Saturday Night's Main Event. Punk shared an image of himself posing with fellow former AEW stars, Jade Cargill, Ricky Saints, and Cody Rhodes, all wearing their WWE championships. Khan started off his comment talking about how great he believes AEW is doing right now, and how he thinks his roster is delivering great shows, but said Punk's photo did make him smile, as he thought of a photo Rhodes and Jon Moxley took after an AEW show with their titles.
"It reminded me of Double or Nothing 2020, the first pandemic pay-per-view, we put on this great pay-per-view, and Cody won the TNT title and Mox retained the AEW World title versus the late, great Mr. Brody Lee, may he rest in peace," Khan said. "After Double or Nothing 2020, Cody and Mox took a photo, and I thought it was interesting."
Khan said he has relationships with all four of the stars in the photo and said they're very different. He said he could talk for hours about all four of them and why he likes them and why he thought they were great in AEW.
"But, they're all not wrestling in AEW anymore," he said. "But to be completely honest, I just thought that photo, it made me think of Double or Nothing in 2020 and being there in Jacksonville and taking that photo on my phone and remembering that night, and thinking man, 'It's crazy how five and a half years have flown by.'"
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Helwani Show" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
