Tony Khan Doesn’t Plan On Being A Regular GM Character On TV, Sees Himself More As A ‘Device’
Tony Khan has been appearing on your television screens more often, but fans shouldn’t expect him to become a regular fixture.
Khan was this week’s guest on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette and two began speaking about the ongoing relationship AEW has with IMPACT Wrestling. Khan explained how Kenny Omega was responsible for really getting things moving, and Paquette asked about his “paid ads” on IMPACT and how often we might see him as an on-air character. Khan said he’s not going to be the “wrestling GM” in the traditional sense and explained that he has “come as close to doing it as I will.” He noted that he made a big exception in coming out to the ring for the Brodie Lee tribute show, adding that it was the right thing to do to express how much Brodie meant to the company.
“I wanted to pay the highest respect to him that I could to him and his family and be there for them. But other than that, I’ve never come out and done that in that role. Occasionally, because of the story with IMPACT, a couple of times, it makes sense… for example, [the Young Bucks] were waiting to be introduced by Don Callis, but he brought out the Good Brothers instead, and Matt and Nick were standing there, right there by the curtain in Gorilla with me,” Khan explained, “and I’m not going to be thrilled about it either. They should have expected this from Kenny by now, but I don’t want to [be a regular character]. We have a limited amount of TV time and we have a great roster and there’s a lot of other people that need to be featured. Quite frankly, the character of the general manager doesn’t need to be featured on TV a lot.”
“I’m the General Manager of a Premier League team, you don’t see me [out there] that much. That’s not the job of the General Manager, it’s not to be on TV a lot. There’s a time and a place, if there’s a statement that needs to be made, you do it, but in the case of AEW, it’s announcing matches. With Fulham, it could be announcing players, someone could be coming in on loan,” Khan said, “but for me, the role of the general manager [in wrestling], there’s not really a need for that person to be on TV consistently. I think you just have to explain that [he’s making matches, but not show him]. It’s a device that you need. I think of myself as a device on the show instead of a character, if that makes sense.”
Related: Tony Khan Gives ‘100% Credit’ To Kenny Omega For Setting Up The AEW / IMPACT Crossover