Tony Khan on Signing Kyle O’Reilly, The AEW Roster Constantly Growing, Hook’s 2022 Potential

Tony Khan recently discussed AEW signing Kyle O’Reilly, the regular growth of the AEW roster and more in a new interview. Khan spoke with Sports Illustrated for a new interview, and you can check out the highlights below:

On signing Kyle O’Reilly: “Kyle O’Reilly is a huge addition for AEW. He’s a great, great wrestler. And not only did we get Kyle O’Reilly, we also got Bobby Fish and Adam Cole. These are huge signings individually, but even more massive together. Adam Cole’s debut at the end of All Out, that’s one of the most important moments ever in AEW, and now he’s surrounded by his former partners. To have Kyle O’Reilly debut and help Adam Cole get the win over Orange Cassidy in a great wrestling match last week on Dynamite, that builds more interest in AEW.

“Kyle makes his debut in the ring this week, and it’s symbolic that it is happening on the final Dynamite on TNT. So much of our run on TNT was spent battling these guys—Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly. When we were head to head, it was threatening to us every time they were on camera. Now we’ve added them to our team in AEW, which is such an advantage. Having them here is tremendous. I wanted Kyle to sign with AEW as soon as he was a free agent.

“This week on Dynamite will be special. We’ll see Adam Cole make his first appearance at Daily’s Place, and so will CM Punk. Sting will be there. And at the forefront of it all will be Cole and Bobby Fish teaming with Kyle O’Reilly, making his in-ring debut.”

On if there’s a point where the AEW roster becomes too big: “We’ve been expanding our programming over the past year, and I’d like to always keep AEW at the forefront of the fans’ minds as the home of professional wrestling. It’s the place where you will see the best pro wrestlers, so the roster is constantly evolving.

“There is a ton of great talent in the world of wrestling right now, and I’m always looking for ways to make the show more exciting. I always want to upgrade the roster. That’s what we did with Kyle O’Reilly, CM Punk, Adam Cole, Ruby Soho and Bryan Danielson. We also have Thunder Rosa under a full AEW contract. Christian Cage came in as a free agent and wrestled at as high a level as he ever has. Malakai Black, Andrade El Idolo, we keep adding to our roster, expanding our programming and growing.”

On having the Bryan Danielson vs. Hangman Page rematch next week: “Page and Bryan was really special. It was the first 60-minute time-limit draw in AEW, and one of the first I can ever remember on a live pro wrestling show. There was Kerry Von Erich–Ric Flair in Hawai‘i [in 1985], but that didn’t air live. Nick Bockwinkel-Curt Hennig [in 1986] is another good example of a world title draw, but that also didn’t air live. I can’t think of another example of it within the past 30 years. It’s generated so much interest in the rematch, which will kick off the era of AEW on TBS. It is two wrestlers fighting over who is the best. What is better than that?”

On Hook potentially being rookie of the year for 2022: “Hook could be rookie of the year in any year. He has the marketing machine fully behind him. He’s had great coaching from his father, Taz, who is his mentor, and he’s learned from a lot of very intelligent pro wrestlers. It bodes really well for him, and he is going to be special every time you see him on screen. There is so much to look forward to in 2022, and Hook is a big reason for that.”