AEW President and CEO Tony Khan appeared on The Mark Hoke Show to discuss various topics, including the company’s approach to managing talents who execute high-risk moves.
Khan said, “Well, that’s a good question. The pro wrestlers are always taking hard-hitting and high risk chances. That’s one of the things that makes pro wrestling so exciting. But in AEW, we’ve been able to have all of these great events. And we’ve never had a career-ending injury like that from our wrestling, and I don’t think that AEW is any different than any other wrestling promotion in the world where the wrestlers want to do their very best, and sometimes a promotion will step in. And AEW and I have at times stepped in and said, ‘I can’t do that. I don’t think that’s a good idea.’ I don’t want to do that every day or every match, but there are times where it comes up, and it’s okay.”
On fans showing concern about the Fletcher spot:
“But I thought World’s End was a great show and I thought everything about it was wonderful. And if anybody was talking about Kyle Fletcher vs. John Moxley, that’s one of my favorite matches of all-time… So I do think that it’s something to to really be proud of, for AEW to hang our hats on. How fantastic the year was, and all of our wrestlers are doing well. We’re really proud of what AEW accomplished in 2025 going into 2026. Everything you talk about, these are things you constantly balance in sports. Not just AEW, but in all sports. You know, taking care of your athletes and doing things to protect the health and safety of the athletes to make the sport work.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
