Tony Khan Criticized Backstage Over ‘Shock’ AEW Firing

AEW

Tony Khan has been criticized backstage over a recent firing in AEW that had caused “shock” among people in the company.

Kevin Sullivan was let go from his Vice President of Post Production role in AEW on December 4, with the aftermath being one of shock, confusion and criticism.

As recently reported, Sullivan was well respected backstage in AEW and had been with the company since its early days.

The decision to terminate Sullivan was made by Senior Vice President and Co-Executive Producer Mike Mansury.

In the current Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer gave an update on backstage reactions, writing:

Kevin Sullivan (obviously not the wrestler but the longtime production whiz), the Vice President of Post Production, who has been here since the early days of the promotion was let go on 12/4 in a move made by Mike Mansury, the Senior Vice President and Co-Executive Producer.

The move was huge behind the scenes, particularly on the production side since Sullivan had built the entire post-production team based in Nashville. This blindsided many people.

Meltzer would go into further detail on how it blindsided people, including from a managerial perspective, adding:

The story going around was Mansury told Sullivan that morning that they were moving in another direction in 2024.

Sullivan had no idea it was coming and was given no real explanation as to why, just that it was a Mansury decision.

People in the division didn’t even know that Mansury was Sullivan’s boss, noting that among those who worked in production that was never made clear.

The story in production is that nobody else was expected to be cut, but it was a team created by Sullivan so they are his guys.

He would also touch upon criticism that this was allowed to happen, concluding:

There was criticism from some that Tony Khan didn’t step in and stop this from happening given Sullivan’s tenure and work.

Another person noted to us, “Another day one guy gone. Sad. Great guy. Worked tirelessly since the beginning. Really understood the original mission statement and feeling/image we were going for.”

Others noted to us being in shock about it. Sullivan was heavily praised across the board.

Mansury joined AEW in December 2022 having served as WWE Vice President of Global Television Production.

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• Mike Mansury
• kevin sullivan
• AEW

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