"God got me through all that stuff" - Former AEW star discloses battling critical disease after Tony Khan controversy

Tony Khan at an AEW event in 2022
Tony Khan at an AEW event in 2022

Former AEW star Big Swole has opened up about life during her departure from the company, revealing that while she suffered backlash following Tony Khan's controversial comments, she was battling a severe case of Crohn's disease.

Swole departed from AEW at the back end of 2021, citing problems within the company regarding structure and diversity. This led Tony Khan to fire back on Twitter by listing off prominent faces within AEW who would be considered people of color, including himself.

Khan declared in the same tweet that Swole wasn't re-signed after her contract expired because her ability as a wrestler wasn't good enough.

Speaking on the latest episode of Complex Unsanctioned, Big Swole has gone into detail about her life during that ugly phase of controversy, stating that the Crohn's disease that she has suffered from for a long time reached an even uglier level:

"God got me through all that stuff because if I hadn’t been able to do the work because most people don’t even know this, after I left AEW, immediately after, all the wrestling that I did when I was hurting from the Crohn’s caught up with me and I was on bedrest. Well, excuse me, I was bedridden." (H/T: Wrestling Headlines)

Swole has suffered from the disease for years and battled it throughout her time in AEW. Her comments following her release and Khan's retort on social media caused backlash that split the fanbase; however, Swole has indicated recently that she's open to mending fences.

Tony Khan has allowed a number of AEW contracts to expire in recent months

The initial portion of 2022 has seen the the very first wave of AEW departures, with Tony Khan opting to sign newer talent rather than re-sign several stars who had been in the company since its inception.

Big Swole was the first of a number of stars to depart the company, which included the likes of Joey Janela, Stu Grayson of The Dark Order and co-founder of the company Cody Rhodes.

In response to losing such names, Khan has signed a number of high-profile stars to AEW. The likes of Jeff Hardy, William Regal and Toni Storm have all joined the company in recent months, with the potential for more signings to come in the near future.

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