Following the news that major backstage figure QT Marshall was exiting AEW, another longtime producer will be leaving the company. Today’s Wrestling Observer Daily Update states that the company has let go of Kevin Sullivan, making sure to note that it’s the former Impact Wrestling producer and not the WCW veteran. Sullivan has long served as AEW’s Vice President of Post-Production, and the decision to let him go was reportedly made by Senior Vice President Mike Mansury. Mansury was a former Vice President of Global Television Production in WWE but decided to leave for AEW last year, where he was also given a Co-Executive Producer role.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Sullivan has been with AEW since October 2019, the month that the promotion first broadcast AEW Dynamite. Speaking about big changes to AEW’s production that took effect early this year, Sullivan expressed pride in leading the post-production team and their synergy with corporate partners at Warner Bros-Discovery (h/t to Fightful).
The report noted that Sullivan was responsible for assembling AEW’s post-production team, based in Nashville, Tennessee. His departure is said to have left some asking questions about what happened between Sullivan and the company. Taking his exit in combination with Marshall’s, it certainly seems as though a changing of the guard is happening backstage in AEW. Haus of Wrestling previously reported that sources close to Marshall relayed that he feels the company is heading toward a more NJPW-like approach.
Onscreen, the company is in the midst of the new Continental Classic, a round-robin tournament reminiscent of New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s G1 Climax. On the other hand, there are still more drama-oriented wrestling storylines in play, with the ongoing teases of the masked Devil antagonizing MJF and the bitter feud between Christian Cage and Adam Copeland that is set to head to the ring this Wednesday on Dynamite.