Report: Tony Khan Constantly Making Last-Minute Changes To AEW TV
Last minute AEW changes from Tony Khan happening all the time
May 29, 2024
Last-minute changes to All Elite Wrestling programming has reportedly become a common occurrence to the point that several changes were made to Sunday night's Double or Nothing pay-per-view only hours before the show began.
Within a discussion on the F4WOnline Board comparing All Elite Wrestling to 2019 WWE, Bryan Alvarez noted, "AEW today is a billion times better than WWE in 2019." Alvarez, however, then detailed that plans often aren't finalised until the day of shows, with Tony Khan booking TV week-to-week.
"With that said, Tony switched the script on yesterday's PPV multiple times during the afternoon. Most people, not just the wrestlers, have no idea what they're doing until the day of the show, and sometimes not until an hour or so before the show. People are flown to towns and given nothing to do, others are begged the day before the show to please get to the town so they can do something last-minute. He knows what he wants to do for PPVs (although this often changes), but as far as week-to-week TV, everything is booked show-to-show," Alvarez wrote.
"For most people he's incredibly difficult to get hold of. In some ways, it legitimately is more like 2019 WWE than it is 2019 AEW, where he was much easier to get hold of, he had very complex long-term storytelling, many people had a good idea of what they were doing and where things were going, and often most of the following week's entire Dynamite card was booked and announced before the previous week's Dynamite had even ended (remember when Excalibur would run down two dozen matches in 30 seconds for the following week?). It's night and day the changes, and people who work for the company, in all roles from the wrestlers to the office, talk about it ALL THE TIME."
2019 is often remembered as one of the worst years in WWE history, partly due to last-minute creative changes from Vince McMahon that became a weekly occurrence. The year was a poor one for WWE booking, with angles and moments such as The Revival shaving each other's backs, Shane McMahon as the Best in the World, and Goldberg vs. The Undertaker taking place.
Tony Khan is the head booker of All Elite Wrestling. The AEW CEO does have a team to assist with creative which includes QT Marshall and Will Washington, amongst others, but Khan retains the final say over all AEW creative.
Alongside last-minute changes, there has been frustration amongst AEW talents due to the promotion's bloated roster.