Tony Khan was a pro wrestling fan long before he launched AEW and purchased ROH. The sports executive is constantly looking for new additions to his roster, and recent remarks are offering insight into what Khan appreciates from his favorite grapplers.
Shortly after launching AEW, Khan said Chris Jericho, Steve Austin, and Bret Hart were “probably” his favorite wrestlers. In addition to being a big fan of his inaugural World Champion, Khan has publicly revealed his fandom for Orange Cassidy, Katsuyori Shibata, Mercedes Moné, Bryan Danielson, and Toni Storm, among others. He has also shared a massive appreciation for Jon Moxley.
Khan has been careful to not offer a lot of public praise to current WWE roster members. The lifelong fan once named Austin, Hart, Ric Flair, and Ricky Steamboat to his Mount Rushmore of wrestling.
Tony Khan’s Favorite Non-AEW Wrestlers
AEW and ROH currently have working relationships with NJPW, Stardom, CMLL, and RevPro. In his latest interview on My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox from Barstool Sports, Tony Khan named several talents from those promotions, and some who appear on his programming, when asked about his favorites.
Khan named Bryan Danielson, Bret Hart, and Zack Sabre, Jr. when asked about his personal favorite technical wrestlers to watch, adding that he’s also a fan of technical tag team wrestling, especially FTR, The Midnight Express, The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, and The Hollywood Blondes. Fox then asked Khan for his favorite wrestlers who are not currently signed to AEW or ROH.
I just said Zack Sabre, Jr., that would be very high on the list. Um… that’s a good answer. Starlight Kid, very good. AZM, very good. [Fox: how tapped into other wrestling can you possibly be?] Oh, very… and actually, I just realized the light bulb came on as you were asking your question. Mistico, by far. Mistico is one of my all-time favorite wrestlers. Mistico has been on [my fantasy-booked] Dynamite since I was in college, I’ll put it that way. I was… I’m a big Mistico guy. I got really into CMLL in the early 2000s,” Tony Khan said.