Tony Khan Comments On WWE No Longer Scouting Independent Wrestlers

AEW President Tony Khan has commented on WWE confirming that they’re focusing on recruiting “younger and bigger” athletes.

In a recent interview, WWE President Nick Khan confirmed reports that WWE will hire less “indy wrestlers” going forward, and will “look elsewhere” for new stars.

Speaking on the Wrestling Observer Radio, Tony Khan noted that not everyone who has ‘the look’ has the talent to match. Comparing WWE’s recruitment strategies to AEW’s, Khan said:

“There are people that look great that will never be good at this. And you can pick a hundred great looking people and you might find zero that actually are great at what wrestlers really do. A lot of the best wrestlers, if you took a hundred people and you picked 90 of them and there were 10 left over, they’d probably be in the 10 left over people. There’s a lot of people who have made it in this business that you would never guess have that talent.

“But they broke through to the fans. If you auditioned people on their physical ability or how good they look in a speedo, Mick Foley or Dax Harwood or a lot of other people, Darby Allin, people aren’t necessarily going to be lining up to sign those guys as their number one draft pick. But frankly I like to watch wrestling. And I think watching somebody wrestle is the best way to get a sense of how good of a wrestler they are. Listening to them talk is a great way to get a sense of how they are talking.

“You don’t have to do everything, you have to do some things. But if you’re not coming from a background of wrestling or coming from a background of talking in wrestling, it’s a lot harder to make it. I’ve made investments like that. I’m not saying it’s a totally crazy thing to do. Like Anthony Ogogo. He was an Olympic medalist, and I don’t think in America people realized how famous Anthony Ogogo is in England.

“I know he’s a household name and everybody in England knows who Anthony Ogogo is. It’s a big deal for an international wrestling company, especially a company that is the number one wrestling TV company in England, in the UK, which is us, AEW. So I thought he made a lot of sense for us, but I also don’t go out and do that stuff all the time.

“Most of our talent, 90% of our talent, are coming from another wrestling company, whether it’s New Japan, WWE, Impact or the independents or somewhere else. That’s philosophical, but it’s also healthy to have different styles and have different people doing different things.

“I can’t make them believe what I believe and I’m never going to believe what they believe, that’s for sure,” Khan said. “I think it’s kind of funny, but it’s harder for the independent wrestlers. I think it’s good in some ways for AEW and New Japan. It intrigues me, and I think it’s interesting.”

AEW is currently preparing for All Out, set for September 5 in the NOW Arena. On the show, Kenny Omega will defend his AEW World Title against Christian Cage, and CM Punk will return to the ring against Darby Allin.

It has also been reported that Daniel Bryan will make his AEW debut during the September pay-per-view.

Transcription via Wrestling Inc.

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• independent
• tony khan
• AEW
• wwe

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