Earlier this week, Tony Khan went on a social media tirade in response to the USA Network’s jab at him for promoting the high Cagematch ratings AEW shows and matches have consistently received in the past. Khan proceeded to hit out at WWE Raw, which the USA Network broadcasts, over Jinder Mahal becoming the #1 contender to the World Heavyweight Championship despite not having won a match in the promotion in a year.
He went on to blast the “double standard” in the neutered reaction Mahal receiving a World Heavyweight Championship match got in WWE versus the outcry HOOK’s challenge to AEW World Champion Samoa Joe received in AEW. Khan’s fervent social media activity earned criticism from former WWE announcer Jonathan Coachman, who questioned Khan over wrestling being more about the story than wrestlers “earning” victories in a pre-determined environment, as well as Eric Bischoff.
During a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez reported that several people behind the scenes at AEW were embarrassed by Khan’s posts and went on to share some insight into Khan’s motivation behind his social media activity and why he believes they will ultimately help boost the ratings of AEW programming.
“I got a lot of tweets, it was the exact same thing as last time, got a lot of tweets from people in AEW,” Alvarez noted. “They were like, ‘Why is he doing this on Twitter? This is embarrassing.’ That’s what they said. They said it last time too, I’m sure he’s aware of it. But he sees this as, look at all the engagement I get for these tweets. Then I can tweet out some matches and get some promotion for Wednesday and it’ll help boost the rating. That’s why he does it.”
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