Tony Khan Names His Mt. Rushmore Of Pro Wrestlers

Tony Khan has named his Mt. Rushmore of all-time professional wrestlers, explaining his reasons for his picks. Khan appeared on Marking Out with MVP and Dwayne Swayze for a new interview and during the discussion, Swayze asked him to name his Mt. Rushmore.

Khan noted that the list was specifically on who he loved growing up and that if he had a list based on people he’s worked with, it would be different and include Kenny Omega. He named Steve Austin, Ric Flair, Bret Hart and Sting, noting that he believed the latter star had the best retirement match of all time at AEW Revolution 2024. He also added that if he was able to pick five people, Ricky Steamboat would be his fifth pick. You can see the highlights below:

On Steve Austin:

“The first person I would say is Steve Austin, through a number of different iterations. I’ve been a fan of Steve Austin since he first started wrestling on television. I was watching with Steve Austin in the summer of ’91, first became the World TV Champion on TBS, and I followed him as a singles wrestler through tag teams as Stunning Steve.

“I always believed Stunning Steve was going to be a top star in wrestling. I just didn’t know that it would be in a different promotion, not as Stunning Steve and not with his blonde hair. And then he became the greatest star in the history of wrestling. He’s an incredible, incredible wrestler, he’s an incredible person. And I think that Steve Austin would be the very first person I would put on any wrestling Mount Rushmore.”

On Ric Flair:

“I also think that Steve Austin and I would agree about this. Any wrestling Mount Rushmore must include the Nature Boy, Ric Flair. I think the Nature Boy Ric Flair, to me is the person I grew up on. My first message board name was Tony Flair, and I’m a big Ric Flair believer. And I absolutely think Ric Flair, to me growing up, was the person that I followed for the longest time, who I thought wrestled at the highest level. And there are so many incredible Ric Flair matches and moments. So I’m a huge believer in Ric Flair.”

On Bret Hart:

“I would also say Bret Hart. Bret Hart, The Hitman. What a fantastic wrestler. Talking about people that wrestled on American TV at the highest level, and you never saw any inconsistency, you always saw them putting out their very best. And even before I really understood what makes great wrestling matches or understood really that there’s any cooperation, and when I was really watching wrestling it as a kid at a very young age, immediately the quality of the Bret Hart matches stood out to me. I first saw him in the tag team of the Hart Foundation when I was a kid. But Bret Hart is somebody that I have a lot of respect for, and I would include Bret Hart on that Mount Rushmore, absolutely.”

On Sting:

“And then when I talk about my childhood idols and somebody that I think has been a huge part of my life. Somebody I grew up on and then came to AEW and had his retirement match. And I never imagined that I would get to know him, let alone work with him someday, and that is Sting. Sting, I was a huge fan of as a kid. I was a little Stinger. And I never imagined when we launched AEW that Sting could become a part of it, or that Sting would have quite possibly the greatest run anyone’s ever had in AEW. He went undefeated, Sting and Darby won every match they ever had. What an incredible team. And in his undefeated run, Sting became world tag team champions with Darby… Sting and Darby vs. the Young Bucks, I think, was the single greatest retirement match in the history of pro wrestling.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Marking Out with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.