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WWE Hall of Famer Booker T weighed in on Tony Khan's booking strategy in AEW, where he believes that the AEW President has every right to bring in stars with name value as he needs to "build for the right now."
One gripe people have with AEW is that its roster is overrun with ex-WWE stars, and the young talent in the company is getting pushed aside. One big example of this is MJF, who voiced his frustrations with Khan on Dynamite (June 1).
However, one person believes Khan has every right to sign and push established names: Booker T. He spoke about the situation on the Hall of Fame podcast in the wake of Claudio Castagnoli (fka Cesaro) signing with the company:
“I don’t think you need to build for the future, I think you need to build for the right now. You know, the future will play out as far as what AEW is going to turn in to, but I think the right now as far as what we got to really got to focus on, we can’t worry how old these guys are, we’ve just got to think about their star power. If they’ve got star power, we can bring them in and we can utilise that.” (from 44:25 to 44:49)
Booker continued, stating that it's down to Khan if he wants more veteran talent in the company, using performers like Ric Flair and Sting as examples:
“Then today you look at Ric Flair’s just getting ready to have his last match at what 73? Then Sting at 63, if you look it at that way, these guys got at least another 10 to 12 year run left in them because wrestlers can work you know, and it’s according to what Tony Khan is going to allow to happen." (from 44:50 to 45:19)
Tony Khan signed multiple former WWE stars in 2022
At the time of writing, 17 wrestlers earned the All Elite graphic in 2022, meaning many ex-WWE performers have joined AEW.
Of the 17 stars, ten gained a large amount of their popularity in WWE. While performers like Keith Lee, Toni Storm, and Claudio Castagnoli had reputations before WWE, people like Jeff Hardy, William Regal, and Athena were known primarily for their work in WWE.
The other four stars – Samoa Joe, Stokeley Hathaway, Swerve Strickland, and Buddy Matthews – made their names before joining WWE. Despite not being in the company for long, all ten have received significant pushes, challenging for titles within weeks of joining AEW.
With the global juggernaut likely to release more talent, will Tony Khan continue to bring in former WWE Superstars? Only time will tell!
Please credit the Hall of Fame podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling if using quotes from this article.
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
