Booker of what?
By Scott Keith on April 13, 2023
I want to ask the blog a tough question. Tony Khan has been credited with alot of things since AEW started. The biggest is creating the first major competition to WWE in 20 years. My question is does he really deserve all the credit he gets? And what has he really done besides bankroll it? AEW doesn't happen without Cody and the Elite pulling off All In, and getting a major name like Chris Jericho to sign. I feel like Tony gets all this credit like booker of the year awards and things like that. But a majority of the biggest stars and angles weren't really booked by him. Alot of guys like Jericho, Omega, MJF, Punk, and a few other big stars all heavily contributed to their own booking. Tk basically had the money to pull it off, and connects with Warner I assume? But he seemed more like an investor at the start than wrestling visionary.
I would argue Cody deserves a majority of the credit. And if you really want to look at it, ever since Cody left, the TV ratings and even PPV buys have peaked or dropped drastically in some cases. Kenny has even recently said how important Cody was to internal operation being set up in the beginning, as they didn't realize all the different components they needed, like medical staff and things like that. Cody was also the person running gorilla and the shows when they first launched. Tony eventually took over creative, but for the most part, he seems to book the midcard stuff while the big stars book the top angles and Tony approves the ideas they give him.
Tony as a booker has basically lived off booking dream matches, hyping big announcements, having some success partnering with other promotions, and signing ex WWE or New Japan stars. He hasn't created one star on his own, as even the unknowns like Jungle Boy and Darby came in with their own gimmicks. He almost got there with Wardlow and we saw how that went. MJF also built himself up more than I say Tony did anything. Tk has a couple million dollar gates to his credit, and AEW way superseding the ratings Warner expected them to get. So he def has done some things. But besides some PPV names and new Title belts, what has he really contributed to the success of AEW besides having unlimited money to spend on whatever he wants?
“Aside from that, how was the play, Mrs Lincoln?”
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