At the post officeEverything included At yesterday’s media event (August 25) in London, Tony Khan, owner, president and creative director of AEW, was asked to talk about his company’s creative process.
Khan compared it to a football coaching staff, saying there are about 27 people involved (he mentioned Jen Pepperman’s work with Mercedes Moné and others, RJ City’s role in shaping the Toni Storm/Mariah May program, Christopher Daniels, Pat Buck, Sonjay Dutt, Jerry Lynn, Sarah Stock and Jimmy Jacobs – who gets “so much crap” online but doesn’t edit as much as people seem to think). Everyone suggests storylines and contributes ideas, and ultimately they decide what gets used.
He then offered some thoughts on how the creativity and backstage environment at AEW has improved over the past year. Khan did not mention CM Punk’s name. But by focusing on booking collision — which originally had more members from its own roster, supposedly so that Punk & The Elite did not have to work too closely together — and compares this year’s Everything included atmosphere with “what happened here a year ago,” it was pretty clear what Khan attributed the improvement to.
“I honestly think it’s an easier environment backstage. collision than a year ago to do things. I think it’s a lot easier to switch between the two shows than it was a year ago. I think the dressing room is in a lot better shape than it was a year ago. It shows when we came here compared to what happened here a year ago. I think it’s a much easier job that I have because I’ve had to deal with the people on the ground. collision last year and the discussion process for putting the TV together is much easier than it was this time a year ago.”
Which, regardless of how those involved have handled AEW’s past backstage issues, is a good thing. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for either side, but Punk is happy where he is and AEW seems to have established its post-Punk identity and is gaining momentum.
Punk will always be a part of AEW history and vice versa. If we ever start to forget, Punk will joke that he is “a choke artist” Rawor Jack Perry shows up at Wembley Stadium with a bag full of broken glass.
But maybe we’re almost done with the public autopsy* of what happened behind the scenes at AEW from spring 2022 to summer 2023?
We’ll see.
* Yes, we are as guilty as any other online outlet of keeping the debate going. But (a) that’s the job, and (b) as fans, we can’t look away completely. And let’s face it, they’re still producing new specials and series discussing the Montreal Screwjob and the death of WCW. Punk/AEW stories will never go away.
