If fans want to thank someone for Kenny Omega‘s current run in the wrestling and the AEW / IMPACT crossover, Tony Khan says they can thank “The Cleaner” himself.
Tony Khan was this week’s guest on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette, and she asked the AEW owner about the relationship they have with IMPACT Wrestling. Earlier in the show, Khan talked about being better at filtering ideas, but said he listened to this one and will give full credit to the current AEW World Champion for making it happen.
“It was Kenny’s idea. He asked me about it and I love good ideas. I don’t do every idea, and I try not to do the bad ones, and like I’ve said, that’s something I try to do a better job of, and also, I don’t do every good one, sometimes because I don’t realize they’re good,” Khan said, “I’m not perfect and I make a lot of mistakes too. Sometimes I just think that there are good ones that just don’t fit. ‘That’s a great idea but it doesn’t fit because ’this person’ is already doing ‘this’’, or I can’t do it because we already have another plan we’re locked into. This is something that Kenny brought up that I thought was a great idea and he put a lot of thought and time into it.”
“I give 100 percent of the credit to Kenny. Don Callis and Kenny have a very close relationship and, you know, I think that is what was behind it, but I also think Kenny believed that Don would be a very powerful advocate for him, to fulfill the role of a really, really strong heel manager for Kenny as the top heel in the territory, and really, I think [Kenny is] the top heel in wrestling right now. I think that’s something people wanted to see. There are some wrestlers, like ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin in 2001, I don’t think people were ready to boo him or they didn’t want to see that person as a villain, but I absolutely think people were really ready to see this Kenny Omega. He was excited to present it. He didn’t just want to present the same Kenny Omega that people had seen. He put so much thought into innovating and changing, and it’s why I always say the best wrestlers in the world are Kenny and Jon [Moxley]. Those are the two,” Khan said, “and that’s why we showcase them as the top two. I think this was Kenny that people want to see, but we didn’t just flip a switch. There’s been this slow progression over the course of a year.”
Khan cited how the Kenny versus Hangman storyline unfolded and how it progressed to the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament, all leading to ‘Winter Is Coming’ and Kenny’s title win.
“I think Kenny is the person I would give credit to, and then I went with Kenny to the [IMPACT tapings]. They’ve got the pay-per-view this weekend and it was something he believed in. He wanted to help Don,” Khan explained, “but he also thought it could help us and he was right. I wanted to support the idea so I greenlighted it, and [I said] ‘We’ll do this, we’ll partner and I’ll come with you.’”
From there, Khan explained that this was also how they came up with the idea for the “paid advertisements” and says they keep doing them because the response has been great. Khan shared a funny exchange between needing new clothes for each video so they didn’t look too low-rent, and said they’ve been entertaining and a way to promote AEW.
Check out the full episode below:
