Tony Khan has earned brickbats for the various controversies he puts AEW through. He has invited criticism from fans and the wrestling community for his decision-making skills and booking choices. The problem stems from the fact that Khan doesn’t wield his authority with the necessary forcefulness. Instead, he listens to an internal committee and agrees with their judgment. This creates hurdles with key decisions facing significant delay as seen in the CM Punk fiasco.

A few weeks ago, Punk spoke with Ariel Helwani and argued that Tony Khan is not a legitimate owner. The Best in the World asserted this because the AEW head honcho could not come up with a decisive judgment while the Punk dispute was ongoing. The former AEW Champion believes he was bringing attention to the brand, and Khan should have appreciated it. According to him, Tony Khan should have just disciplined him, but firing him was the wrong option, which the committee made.

CM Punk stated in the interview, “He’s not a boss. He’s a nice guy. Ultimately, that’s a detriment to the company. But it’s not my company. I’m an outsider. I thought I was brought in to sell merchandise and tickets and draw numbers for PPV and stuff, and I clearly did that. But that’s not what the place was about and some people didn’t like that.”

Similarly to the preceding instance, Tony Khan did not make a ruling in the MJF and Britt Baker case. The altercation took place backstage when both superstars were yelling and physically shoving one other. Not only that, but Britt Baker earned her suspension after the fight, whereas MJF didn’t face any consequences. Wrestling veteran Dutch Mantell too recently on his YouTube channel remarked that he agrees with Punk’s viewpoint about the AEW president.

Dutch Mantell has worked in the TNA hiring section, so he is familiar with what goes on behind the scenes at an important decision-making meeting. The former WWE figure stated that while the owner often displays authority, in Tony Khan’s case, his committee makes the choice and he simply agrees with it. Mantell said, “But I don’t get it. So. See, Tony needs to take he needs to and I’ve said this a hundred times, maybe not on this show. But if you’re going to own a company, take it, run it, take charge of it. Is he is he taking charge? He suspended it for a week or two weeks. No, that was the committee doing it. And he just said, OK, I don’t want to deal with it. And he didn’t want to deal with it.”

That’s not the only criticism coming his way as the AEW figure earned a thumbs down from the wrestling fraternity for his recent antics.

Tony Khan’s mistake may cost them a deal with WBD

We are all aware that AEW is aiming to sign with Warner Bros Discovery as they hope to renew their media rights deal. This is a tremendous deal for the corporation, but it appears that, owing to Khan, the contract has been significantly delayed. The reason for this is that the AEW president should have taken measures on how to handle the company’s product at this crucial time, but he has failed horribly.

Khan should have made the company’s product less edgy and more user-friendly so that WBD would see value in the transaction. This did not occur, and instead, the product got more profane and gory, putting the agreement in limbo. Only time will tell how AEW will recover from these events in the future. What are your opinions on Tony Khan’s ineffective management style as seen via Punk’s comments and the recent MJF-Baker scandal? Tell us in the comments.