Tony Khan on AEW’s backstage drama: It can be good when wrestlers really hate each other

While All Out (follow along with the big show right here!) is the main focus for AEW right now, over the past several weeks and even months there has been a great deal of talk regarding growing tension within the locker room among the many wrestlers on the roster. There have been multiple issues, ranging from the treatment of Colt Cabana, to CM Punk’s alleged involvement in that and attitude more generally, to Sammy Guevara and Eddie Kingston getting into some kind of scuffle.

Rumors and reports got around that tensions were reaching a boiling point and something had to give. AEW President Tony Khan was asked about all this during a chat on Wrestling Observer Radio and painted it as a bit of a challenge but also a positive.

As he put it:

“A lot of wrestlers don’t like each other. Some of it has been a secret for a long time, some of it is just coming out now, some of it is new stuff that wasn’t there before. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, as long as people aren’t crossing the line with each other. If they do, we need to get it in check and make sure people aren’t crossing the line. But these things can be settled in the ring a lot of times too.

…

“Some of the stuff that’s come out of these situations in recent weeks has been… in some ways it’s challenging but in other ways I think it’s not always detrimental to the box office of a wrestling company when people find out the wrestlers hate each other.”

Promoter gonna promote and all that but using real life issues to further on-screen tension will only lead us to better matches. It makes for more compelling television and that means everyone is making money while the fans are getting a better product.

Hard to argue with it.

Who knows how sustainable it is, considering the nature of it, but they might as well take advantage while they can, right?