Tony Khan Discusses Learning About Jon Moxley Entering Treatment for Alcoholism

– AEW President Tony Khan spoke to Bryan Alvarez on yesterday’s Wrestling Observer Live, where he addressed the recent announcement of Jon Moxley taking a hiatus from wrestling in order to enter an inpatient treatment program for alcoholism. Below are some highlights.

Tony Khan on the circumstances of the news of Moxley undergoing treatment: “I think it’s good circumstances. Really, it’s a good thing that Jon is doing, and it’s a brave thing, and we’re all here to support him.”

Tony Khan on when Jon Moxley approached him regarding his needing to take time for treatment: “It was just in the past couple days, yeah, from talking to him and Renee [Paquette]. You know, Renee has been talking to him, and Renee spoke to us and said that they, you know, they both thought this was the best way to go. And from talking to both of them, we completely agree. And I just think, you know, some things are more important than wrestling, and in this case, as a wrestling company, the most important thing we can do is support Jon and his recovery.”

Khan on having to make adjustments of Dynamite due to the changes: “Well, it’s a great description of how I’m running around. It’s not furious, though. It’s fun, and I love wrestling. So, card changes are nothing new, and frankly in the pandemic, we learned how to handle changes pretty well I think. And this is a major change, and Jon is one of the most important people in the company, but we have great depth. So, to address the Eliminator semifinal situation whose going to be wrestling Orange Cassidy, I’m going to address that tonight on Dynamite. I think there’s a very logical answer, and we’ll reach a very logical conclusion. I think it’s going to be a great match, and I’m really excited about the tournament.”

On how he’d compare the Jon Moxley situation to other situations that caused AEW to change their plans: “Well, it’s very different. In some ways, it’s more difficult because we’ve never had anybody get, from COVID, such a bad case of COVID, particularly that through the pandemic that we were worried they weren’t going to make it. You know, everyyone that at any point got sick in the last couple years here, we’ve done a really good job keeping a bubble, I think. In general, people have come back and been okay, so this is a little different because it’s an ongoing situation. It’s one day at a time. So, it’s not like somebody’s gonna kick COVID in three, four days, five days and come back two weeks later. It’s a very different situation. So, Jon’s at the forefront of everybody’s minds right now. It’s very different in dealing with it with a wrestling show too because we’ve lost a person here or there through COVID at times, but I think the most challenging situation, calling back to the Omega vs. Angels match that I just referenced, was that time when we had to tape weeks of television in Atlanta, and I wasn’t sure how many weeks it was going to go over. And I just had to put stuff in order that I thought would make sense, and then I put the shows together in post production with all the stuff we had shot over that 24-hour period.”

“And now, going back and looking how far Kenny Omega has come in that time, he was a part of of the World Tag Team Champions with Hangman Page, and now seeing Hangman since then, it’s a pretty good place to look back to I think. And of course, Alan Angels was a guy trying out for a job, and he succeeded. He got a job here, and he’s part of a great group, The Dark Order, that has an important place in AEW history, especially because of the legacy that Mr. Brodie Lee left behind. So, it’s different in many ways. Most challenging ever was when I think I had to book Omega vs. Angels I when we had less than 30 percent of the roster available. I think it was 29 percent of our crew was there in Atlanta, and had to use a lot of extras, and a lot of people got jobs out of it like Alan Angels, like Lee Johnson, Anna Jay, and Preston Vance, and many others who debuted there in Atlanta at those tapings and became important people in the company.”

If using the above quotes, please credit Wrestling Observer Live, with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.