Top Wrestling Twitter

[69MeDon]

What is it with Tony Khan and getting into Twitter drama on Friday nights? Does he drink every Friday or something?

I bet there's some lengthy flame wars on some wrestling forums out there from 2004 featuring TK. I'd like to find them.

Edited January 1, 2022 by 69MeDon

[Mr Butternut Squash]

What a fucking baby.

[The King Of Swing]

40 minutes ago, Mr Butternut Squash said:

What a fucking baby.

Yeah even if Swole is talking complete shit (I don't think she is BTW) Khan responded in the worst way possible. 

 

[Nick James]

I honestly think Tony Khan is trying to be like Vince and be involved in every aspect and it's driving him loopy. He must be constantly stressed with all the hats he wears at AEW, Fulham and possibly the Jaguars. People forget he doesn't only have AEW to run (although his social media would have you believe that).

On the points Swole made, the fact people are saying that there aren't any people of colour ready for a world title shot or run just heightens that fact. 18 months ago, Hobbs was being primed for big things, where is he now? Same position he's always been in. Other than the random week or two push of Lee Johnson, I can't remember any other time they have tried to course correct and actually build someone to rise up the card? I may be wrong and I'm sure someone will be along to correct me if I am.

There is just something about Tony Khan I can't get along with and I can't quite put my finger on what. For all the high praise he gets throughout the wrestling world, he seems to come across as fake to me, maybe that's what it is. I get the feeling he isn't quite the nicey nicey Vince alternative he wants us all to believe he is. The way he gets his knickers in a twist over any slight mention WWE make to ratings or whatever and he has shown quite a few times he cannot handle criticism. He needs someone to professionally run his twitter account for him.

[DavidB6937]

Guys like Tony are only nice to a point. You're not in his position if you're completely nicey nice. You've got to be a bit of a bastard to be there. At least it seems that way because everyone else is. I imagine it's actually incredibly difficult to stay nice at the top. Pressure from all sides etc. But yeah I guess it's about minimising your bad side and certainly not doing stupid shit on social media like that.

[RedRooster]

44 minutes ago, Louch said:

I feel it looks bad as it’s all throwing shit on the way out the door, there’s no mention from her on who she believes should be In those positions. And to mark it up that she left when she wasn’t renewed makes it sound more like she left due to the conditions, making them sound worse then they are.

Where are the contradictions? She essentially admitted that she's not creative, and said that this disadvantaged her; suggesting non-creative people should get more support. Really though, that's a separate issue from her points about representation. 

However, I think it's important to note that at no point did she say "they should have done more with me". 

1 hour ago, Louch said:

It took 2 years to build hangman to be a legitimate title contender, and he started from a higher position than the young black talent they have on the roster just now. It took wwe 10 years to get Kofi and Big E in those roles, fast tracking people into positions they aren’t ready for will do more harm than good to many careers.

But Hangman was always pegged to be in that position - Khan knew who he wanted his first four champions to be. As for Big E and Kofi, it didn't have to take "ten years" for them to be where they are. But that's besides the point, for all its faults, WWE generally has healthy diversity at the top of the card; although it's doing particularly well at the moment. 

1 hour ago, Louch said:

When the young black talent is in the ring with top guys, like Moriarty with Punk, they aren’t just squashed or mocked. They are given competitive matches. On the woman’s side, it’s taken time to get enough quality to feature, given the volume of male to female talent, 3 segments across 2 shows a week is about where everyone would expect them to be without the quality dropping. 

That's how they treat all enhancement talent though, regardless of skin colour.

1 hour ago, Louch said:

I watch aew every week and I can’t say I ever watched and felt it was an all white show, there’s people of all colours and races across the shows. there’s also a few contradictions in her story as well, and blaming her creative limitations on others. That if you go to your boss with an idea gets you further than sitting and waiting applies to nearly all industries, that ain’t a wresting issue. 

The point that Swole is making isn't that AEW is a racist company, it's that there isn't enough representation at the top of the card, which is a very lid point to make. The company is in its third year of existence, and only three people of colour have challenged for the title. Only two of these matches happened on AEW programming (thanks @Infinity Land), and none happened on PPV. But even if you step outside of the title picture - how many people of colour have been in main event-level singles PPV feuds in AEW? Very, very few. There's a difference between having representation on a show, and prominent representation - and AEW doesn't really have the latter. 

There's a phrase - "you can't be what you can't see". If Black wrestlers aren't making the breakthrough to the top of the card; if female wrestlers aren't breaking through to the top of the card, it's going to make it far more challenging to recruit Black or female wrestlers in the future. Why would you consider a career path, when the perception is that you can't possibly succeed? I can absolutely see why Swole, as a mum, would feel the way that she does. I also think she raises good points, many of which I, as a white man, hadn't considered.

[Infinity Land]

9 minutes ago, Nick James said:

On the points Swole made, the fact people are saying that there aren't any people of colour ready for a world title shot or run just heightens that fact. 18 months ago, Hobbs was being primed for big things, where is he now? Same position he's always been in. Other than the random week or two push of Lee Johnson, I can't remember any other time they have tried to course correct and actually build someone to rise up the card? I may be wrong and I'm sure someone will be along to correct me if I am.

18 months ago was 01/07/2020 where Will Hobbs made his AEW debut being squashed in seconds by Orange Cassidy as a new batch of Dark job guys. It wasn't until the end of 2020 he started to gain some traction by aiding Mox, only to turn and join Team Taz. There's no doubt he's stalled as a 2nd fiddle in Team Taz behind Starks and even HOOK now.

However, he's gone from cannon fodder, fiery bland babyface, heel turn where he's now the one demolishing folks on Dark, to midcard competitive matches on TV against some the companies pushed babyfaces (Punk, Hangman, Dante, Brian Cage post-Team Taz, Christian Cage, Orange Cassidy). A bit like with Brian Cage, I don't think he's exactly done anything to break out despite opportunities. He probably would have benefited more from being kicked out of Team Taz than Brian Cage.

In terms of a course correction. Scorpio Sky being the "Face of the Revolution" singles push into an alliance with Ethan Page which I doubt was the original plan for either one.

[Guest]

Who should be at the top of the card @RedRoosterthat isn’t? Who are they not pushing that deserves to be in a better spot than they are? You can’t be be what you can’t see is valid, but you also can’t push what isn’t worthy of being in a spot or a crowd will see right through it. 3 years isn’t a long time from scratch to build a diverse roster when there’s a big company already hoarding the best of the best before you started.
 

To use a football analogy, Newcastle aren’t going to be able to sign the best players in the world this window just because they have money, they are already at the top table clubs getting top money. AEW had to build with what was there. And in the black and female talent available, there wasn’t top tv ready quality. They have since then built a woman’s roster where they can, with elevating who they had and adding to the roster when talent is free, and it’s massively improved in the last year to the point having 2 titles doesn’t feel like overkill . Until aew are ignoring top black talent when it’s available, it’s unfair to just expect them to magic top talent when it’s not there yet. 

[DavidB6937]

While I agree that they're a young company and that you can't just magic top tier talent out of nowhere, it's just as much about investing in that talent going forward. It's about listening to those in the right position to advise properly and Swole is one of those people. Hers is a voice that shouldn't just be silenced and fobbed off with an immature tweet. It sends a horrible message and makes Tony look like an insensitive dick.

[Guest]

Before yesterday I don’t think anyone would have positioned Swole as someone to advise, nor did we have anyone annoyed she left in the main aew thread, so not sure why you’d see her as someone to take advisement from other than she’s now making noises? Tonys tweet and the pile on it’ll create was the wrong way to respond, but doesn’t make the initial action right either. It’s a lose lose, and going to impact those on the roster now wondering if they deserve moving through the card in the coming weeks, or if it’s a token gesture of appeasement. 

[DavidB6937]

1 minute ago, Louch said:

Before yesterday I don’t think anyone would have positioned Swole as someone to advise, nor did we have anyone annoyed she left in the main aew thread, so not sure why you’d see her as someone to take advisement from other than she’s now making noises? Tonys tweet and the pile on it’ll create was the wrong way to respond, but doesn’t make the initial action right either. It’s a lose lose, and going to impact those on the roster now wondering if they deserve moving through the card in the coming weeks, or if it’s a token gesture of appeasement. 

Because black voices are underrepresented and need to be amplified. She can speak from experience. She can speak from knowledge. She can speak from a place many of us can't. It's not as simple as "she wasn't a good wrestler" as Tony decided to put her on blast on social media.

And it's far more harmful than just Tony looking like a twat.

He's now shown himself to be childish but also naive. A situation like that needs to be dealt with in a really considerate way, especially after the last few years with Black Lives Matter etc. He's completely misread the situation without any social awareness. He's not considered how offensive it'll be to his black fanbase. Or to the black wrestlers he has on board. Or the black wrestlers that may have been considering AEW as a potential company to work for going forward. Something like that has a HUGE impact.

And I say that as a white man who has been spending time trying to educate himself over the years and understand those perspectives I have no experience of.

I'm not the voice that needs to be heard here but at the same time staying silent isn't great either. And what Tony did was absolutely tone deaf in so many ways.

[FLips]

2 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

According to Cagematch including Chris Jericho v. Adam Page at All Out 2019 there has been a grand total of 23 AEW World Title Matches with 21 different people involved. Scorpio Sky, Rey Fenix, and Rich Swann would be the people of colour.

Of the 10 PPVs in that time. I'm not sure who would have best slotted in as a title contender? Have Andrade debut earlier for Double of Nothing instead of the triple threat. Maybe Moose during Omega's belt collecter phase, but that's an import and happened on Impact's PPV

1. Chris Jericho v. Adam Page (All Out 2019)
2. Chris Jericho (c) v. Cody Rhodes (Full Gear 2019)
3. Chris Jericho (c) v. Jon Moxley (Revolution 2020)
4. Jon Moxley (c) v. Brodie Lee (Double or Nothing 2020)
5. Jon Moxley (c) v. MJF (All Out 2020)
6. Jon Moxley (c) v. Eddie Kingston (Full Gear 2020)
7. Kenny Omega (c) v. Jon Moxley (Revolution 2021)
8. Kenny Omega (c) v. PAC v. Orange Cassidy (Double of Nothing 2021)
9. Kenny Omega (c) v. Christian Cage (All Out 2021)
10. Kenny Omega (c) v. Adam Page (Full Gear 2021)

 

 

 

Correct me if I’m wrong but Eddie Kingston is Puerto Rican. Not that it changes the stats much, mind you.

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Because black voices are underrepresented and need to be amplified. She can speak from experience. She can speak from knowledge. She can speak from a place many of us can't. It's not as simple as "she wasn't a good wrestler" as Tony decided to put her on blast on social media.

 

Just because she is a black person doesn’t automatically give value to her opinions to advise people on change. From her interview and how she articulated the problems she seen, I don’t see there being value there as she was all problems and no solutions In her views. That’s not the kinda people who help positive change in any situation. 

I think you are reaching saying it’ll stop people wanting to sign for them, far worse has been said by many more promoters in their time In wrestling and hasn’t stopped anyone. All he’s said is that she was released as not progressing when she claimed she walked, not the worst insult ever shared either. He’s not thrown any racial slurs Swoles way or any misogynistic insults. 

[garynysmon]

I feel that some are missing the point here.

She came out with what sounded like heartfelt concerns from a talent POV, and the point of view of someone that billionaire Tony Khan never has and never could appreciate.

To then turn around and spout on social media “Ah well, she was shit anyway,” sends out a terrible message, especially since he was praising her just a few months ago.

Frankly the semantics of how many non-white wrestlers AEW has at the top of the card doesn’t really matter if other talent obviously feel there’s an underlying problem there.

Whatever we think of WWE and crazy Vince, can you imagine any of the top brass taking to Twitter and blasting the likes of Eric Young, Taya Valkyrie or others who have been less than complimentary of the company after being released?

If under contract AEW wrestlers are also clearly alarmed by TK’s tweet, then there’s some sort of underlying issue. 

Khan’s reaction to criticism is not befitting of a company head and he clearly has a very thin skin and enjoys basking in the Meltzer and general social media love-in a bit too much.

He has previous for this and has thrown his toys out of the pram before in his capacity as Fulham MD.

Its not good for him or the companies he runs to be like this.

Edited January 1, 2022 by garynysmon

[RedRooster]

29 minutes ago, Louch said:

Who should be at the top of the card @RedRoosterthat isn’t? Who are they not pushing that deserves to be in a better spot than they are? You can’t be be what you can’t see is valid, but you also can’t push what isn’t worthy of being in a spot or a crowd will see right through it. 3 years isn’t a long time from scratch to build a diverse roster when there’s a big company already hoarding the best of the best before you started.

They’ve had two years - plenty of time to fix this issue, and it is an issue. In terms of who they have? Penta and Fenix could both be big singles stars, but have never really received the opportunities. Penta had a brief feud with Cody, but was pushed aside for a QT Marshall storyline that no one wanted to see. Ricky Starks is incredibly talented, and could be featured more prominently. Thunder Rosa could, and should, be as prominent on Dynamite as a male talent at her level. Anthony Bowens is actually pretty brilliant, and Sonny Kiss, while green, could have benefited from that short-lived pairing with Dustin Rhodes, and was certainly more worthy of the opportunity than, once again, QT Marshall.

Finding main event level non-white talent isn’t an impossible task. If other companies can do it, so can AEW. The same goes for female talent. Other companies with smaller budgets have far superior women’s divisions. AEW has chosen to focus on expanding it’s male roster, rather than invest time in its women’s division.

3 minutes ago, Louch said:

Just because she is a black person doesn’t automatically give value to her opinions to advise people on change. From her interview and how she articulated the problems she seen, I don’t see there being value there as she was all problems and no solutions In her views. That’s not the kinda people who help positive change in any situation. 

 

Firstly, you don’t need to present a solution for concerns to be valid. Secondly, it’s on Tony Khan, not her, to resolve any problem that exists. Thirdly, she may well have ‘solutions’, and any expectation that she can’t highlight concerns without immediately saying what needs to be done about said concerns, is ridiculous. 

10 minutes ago, Louch said:

All he’s said is that she was released as not progressing when she claimed she walked, not the worst insult ever shared either. He’s not thrown any racial slurs Swoles way or any misogynistic insults. 

If you’re feeling the need to conclude your argument with ‘well, at least he wasn’t sexist or racist’, then you’re probably not making the strongest of cases.