Tony Khan has found himself in a slightly tough spot, in part due to the success of his AEW roster.
With All Elite Wrestling, Khan has assembled a remarkably talented roster, including many of the very best wrestlers in the world. This naturally means that a number of his contracted performers are in high demand elsewhere, especially in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, which shares a great relationship with AEW.
As an example, Eddie Kingston will take part in the grueling and prestigious G1 Climax Tournament which begins in July, something that’s been a dream for the popular star. However, while Khan is happy to see Kingston go and live his dream, he’s nervous about the impact it could have on his own promotion.
Kingston only recently returned to AEW after undergoing hernia surgery.
Appearing on Pacific Rim, Khan said that tournaments such as the G1 and Best of the Super Juniors give opportunities for AEW stars to represent the company elsewhere.
“We participate in the G1, we’ve sent people in the past, and now Eddie Kingston being a part of the G1 and Wheeler Yuta competing in the (Best of) Super Juniors last year, it gives us great opportunities to have top stars we believe in represent AEW in Japan.”
Despite the positives, Khan added that he’s also concerned about the physical toll the G1 can take on talents such as Kingston.
“Absolutely I am but at the same time for Eddie Kingston going to the G1 is a lifelong dream for him and it’s something that he has wanted to do since he was very young and it’s something I want to make possible for him. Eddie’s a long-time fan of puroresu also and I believe that it means so much to him, it’s worth it taking that kind of a risk even though he’s coming back from a major injury and he’s been out.
“For him to go back and risk re-injury, losing more time it’s terrible but the upside that he can go over, fulfill his dream, and compete in the G1, hopefully, he does very well, and he could maybe even win the G1, that would be incredible, and I know that Eddie Kingston has it in him to go over there and represent AEW very well night in, night out, that’s the kind of competitor he is and I also know how much he loves puroresu and I know how much this means to him.”
The 2023 G1 Climax tournament kicks off on the 15th of July with the finals taking place on August 12th.
Tony Khan Rules Out AEW Roster Split
Due to the wrestling riches at his disposal, Tony Khan recently launched AEW Collision and he has publicly claimed that the new show will be used to showcase stars who have previously flown under the radar. It had been believed that this would be helped by a roster split, however, Khan himself has stated that this won’t be the case.
H/t to TJR Wrestling