We are currently living in the craziest times in wrestling.
Vince McMahon has returned to WWE and is working to sell the company.
Now Tony Khan, President and CEO of WWE’s main competitor AEW, and his father, AEW owner Shad Khan, are reported to have shown interest in acquiring WWE.
In addition, the Khans are said to be open to discussing a role f0r McMahon himself after the sale or merger.
Tony Khan and Vince McMahon working together? As crazy as it sounds, maybe this frankenteam could actually make things work.
Much like great tag teams of the past, they could lead WWE to new heights by working together – although that seems very unlikely.
Instead, they will probably fight about many things to bring the company forward.
Let’s ring the bell and see what they would clash about.
8. Booking Of The Women’s Division
While it has become the standard in WWE that women’s wrestlers get big pushes and can headline major shows on pay-per-view and TV, AEW is not doing that.
AEW shows often do not get more than one women’s match, with Tony Khan even saying at one point that women’s champion at the time Thunder Rosa wouldn’t be as big of a draw as the male wrestlers.
In addition, male storylines often feel much superior to female ones in AEW. In WWE there usually is at least one major storyline in both divisions.
While McMahon apparently sees some value in women’s wrestling, Khan hasn’t shown the same sentiment. There would probably be hefty discussions about the booking of the division.
7. Booking Of The Tag Team Division
AEW’s tag team division has been one of its biggest appeals since the promotion’s inception in 2019.
This trend continued after Tony Khan purchased Ring of Honor.
In WWE tag team wrestling had its ups and downs. Vince McMahon and Tony Khan won’t see eye to eye here.
McMahon famously views the business as more of a ‘singles sport’ and sees little appeal in putting on more tag team wrestling.
There is no chance in hell McMahon would allow tag teams to take center stage.
6. Wrestlers’ Looks
While Triple H and Tony Khan do not put too much emphasis on talent’s size and often prefer to push smaller, learner, and overall more athletic and skilled people, Vince always had a different idea.
In fact, one of Vince McMahon’s most famous traits is his urge to push big large muscly men and blonde tall young women.
To Vince McMahon, more ‘average’ looks and body sizes do not suit the ‘superstar’ moniker. It will be a very very tough job for Tony Khan to convince…Vince. (No pun intended I promise!).
5. Money
AEW has one of the largest combined wrestling rosters ever. It currently sits at 100+ wrestlers and there is no brand split.
In recent years, Vince McMahon began releasing a lot of talent, shrinking WWE’s roster and therefore effectively ending the brand split once again.
By doing that McMahon actually managed to get a smaller combined main roster than AEW – at least before Triple H took over and hired back many people.
Two billionaires arguing whether it’s better to save money by releasing people than keeping them and trying to generate more with their work would surely be a thrilling thing to witness.
4. House Show Schedules
WWE has become famous for its grueling 300+ day wrestling schedule. Many wrestlers have chosen AEW over WWE because they have a lot less shows.
There aren’t quite as many WWE house shows as there used to be, but it’s still more than AEW.
Tony Khan has modeled his TV product after “less is more”, however Vince always went by “more is more”.
Three hours of Raw, more than 12 pay-per-views per year in addition to record numbers of non-televised house shows all over the world – you name it.
The entire landscape of wrestling TV and shows in general after AEW and WWE are owned by one and the same person would become a very interesting topic for sure.
3. CM Punk
Ah yes. The wonderful personality of CM Punk.
The outspoken Punk is yet to return to All Elite Wrestling after his backstage altercation with the EVPs of the company, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks.
Punk’s status in AEW is relatively unclear. Vince McMahon, whose company Punk famously quit in 2014, said he will never work with CM Punk again.
CM Punk is one of the most polarising figures the industry has ever had and there surely is a lot of money to be made with him on top.
The question is if both Khan and McMahon would want him back into the fold.
2. TV Match-Times
“Unfortunately the bell has to ring” is one of the most famous quotes by Bruce Prichard.
Prichard served for Vince McMahon’s creative department for many years and mirrors McMahon’s vision of WWE creative quite well.
In McMahon’s perfect world, it is all about character presentation. Pro wrestlers are basically well-trained salesmen for WWE merchandise and TV rights.
Tony Khan however banks on long, high-quality wrestling matches during his shows. Combining the two would actually be the best of both worlds.
Triple H and Shawn Michaels probably are the best to achieve this combination, however, Vince did not even fully accept their vision.
He’d probably fight with Tony Khan over every show and rip the script.
1. Crossovers With Other Promotions
For Vince McMahon, WWE was the only game in town. You were not allowed to show people from other promotions or even mention other promotions’ names.
A no go. Nobody else does “Sports Entertainment”. Only Vincent Kennedy McMahon and his precious WWE.
Unfortunately, he was able to implement that mentality into a lot of fans’ minds.
However, there is more. A lot more. The entire world is full of brilliant and incredible wrestling.
Tony Khan knows that. In the young history of AEW, they already partnered with the NWA, Impact Wrestling, and New Japan Pro Wrestling as well as many other indie and international promotions.
They even put on a show with NJPW called “Forbidden Door”. Something unheard of in WWE. McMahon would totally be opposed to it and it would probably cause a pretty serious fight.
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