Tony Khan Breaks Silence On Britt Baker Amid AEW Departure Rumors

Written by Marc Middleton • Published Jul 08, 2025 18:27 EDT
AEW President Tony Khan and former Women's World Champion Britt Baker

AEW is days away from All In: Texas, and while Britt Baker is not booked on the card, she remains a hot topic of discussion going into the history-making weekend, with ongoing talk about potentially jumping ship to WWE. Tony Khan has made several viral statements this week, but his latest comments on Baker and managing the AEW roster are causing a stir across the industry.

DMD Baker and her All Elite future has been the subject of immense rumors and speculation over the last year or so. Amid her latest hiatus, sources recently reported that Britt Baker was actively trying to secure her release, but Khan does not want to let Britt out of her contract because of WWE’s interest in the first-ever female talent signed to All Elite Wrestling.

There have been conflicting reports on Britt Baker and WWE. Khan took questions during today’s AEW All In media call, and The Takedown’s Rick Ucchino wondered if Baker could be one of the surprises in the Women’s Casino Gauntlet, and while he did not want Khan to spoil any plans, he did ask if Khan could clear up the conflicting reports, pointing to how some claim Baker is actively seeking her release while others deny the rumors. He then asked Khan if there’s been any talks with Baker about wanting to leave, and if he expects her back on AEW TV in the near future.

“I’ve never had a conversation about Britt Baker departing AEW. I like Britt, a lot, and I think one thing we’ve done really well with AEW is build a tight-focused show around a really strong roster, and it’s been very consistent, and I think we’ve really had a very, very good year of pay-per-view and TV, and absolutely there are some people that have not been featured, that we have a great group of wrestlers that have not necessarily been on the show a lot, or even in some cases 2025, that are very talented, and we would like to work back in when the opportunity presents itself,” Tony Khan said.

AEW Boss Tony Khan Talks Britt Baker And Pro Sports vs. Pro Wrestling Rosters

Tony Khan runs AEW and ROH, but for several years now he’s worked for his father’s professional sports teams: the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, and Fulham Football Club of the Premier League. The Jags’ Chief Football Strategy Officer and Fulham’s Vice Chairman & Director of Football Operations also works with more than 300 baseball, football, soccer, cricket, and basketball teams to provide analytics solutions via his TruMedia Networks company.

Khan spoke to the media today to promote Saturday’s AEW All In PPV, and in responding to the Britt Baker inquiry from Rick Ucchino of The Takedown on Sports Illustrated, Khan compared AEW roster challenges to lineup methods in the NFL, MLB, and NBA.

“On a baseball team, you use 9 players at a time. In the NFL, you can put 11 in at a time, and rotate across the snaps, but on each play you’re only using 11 players. NBA or college basketball, it’s five-on-five. Pro wrestling, it’s unique because you can use a different number of people but still only so many slots you can fit into a show, and I think we’ve done a great job using a lot of the roster this year. We haven’t used everybody and there are some really talented people on our bench that we can call in to be a great part of the show, and I absolutely think that applies to a number of women and men that are not necessarily being featured right now, but we could bring in that would be a great focus on the show as those spots open up and the timing is right to integrate different people into the show, just like you make substitutions in a sports team, but I think one thing we’ve done very well this year is not try to force everybody on the show every week, and I think what we have had is really well-paced, excellent wrestling TV shows week in, week out, with a really focused crew,” Tony Khan said.

Khan continued to reiterate some of his points, but did group Britt Baker into this category of talents that are not being used, but could be brought back in the future.

“So, I do really want to continue that, but I think Britt Baker’s a great example of somebody that’s very, very talented, and we could utilize in AEW in the right situation at the right time, and just like in pro sports, when you have some really talented people that aren’t necessarily starting every game at that point, doesn’t mean they won’t be starting in the future, if that makes sense. I think it makes sense for me to look at the AEW roster like a sports team, and trying to manage the minutes, but also the rotation, and we’ve done a really good job with the people we’re focusing on right now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t focus on other people, or rotate different people into the show going forward,” Tony Khan said.