Ex-AEW star lashes out at Tony Khan's leadership - "Inmates running the asylum"

Former AEW star Frankie Kazarian recently bashed Tony Khan for his leadership of All Elite Wrestling. The veteran departed from the company in 2023.

Tony Khan often faces backlash from many for his booking of All Elite Wrestling shows. Khan has also gotten into a fight with WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff on the same issue where he also made some controversial comments that seemingly damaged his reputation as the President of AEW.

Speaking on the Busted Open Radio, Frankie Kazarian who has returned to TNA Wrestling since leaving AEW in 2023, spoke about the positives and negatives of the Jacksonville-based promotion. Kazarian noted how the company suffers from a lack of leadership. Many veterans like Eric Bischoff and Jim Cornette have also pointed this out in the past and questioned the leadership of Tony Khan:

"The negative stuff, you know, just ultimately the lack of leadership. Inmates running the asylum in a way. No real direction. I think there’s also, at least when I was there… So there were stories that was presented. ‘We’ll do this, this, this and this.’ Okay, but after that, what are you gonna do? That was always a problem. It was always, ‘Oh, I have a story for three weeks.’ Then what? That’s why I think angles are dropped so quickly and everything and I just ultimately think, you know, a lack of leadership is — in this business, you need that guy. That guy with the pencil where the buck stops and I don’t necessarily think that’s the case there.” H/T:[RingsideNews]

---

Frankie Kazarian also reflected on the launch of AEW 5 years ago

AEW is nearing its fifth anniversary in professional wrestling. The company was the brainchild of Tony Khan, The Elite, and Cody Rhodes. President Tony Khan has done a great job in developing the Jacksonville-based promotion as one of the top wrestling promotions in the United States and as a strong alternative to the WWE.

Speaking on the Busted Open Podcast, Former AEW star and TNA veteran Frankie Kazarian spoke about his experience in being a part of All Elite Wrestling. He noted how he was also a part of TNA during its early days and explained how the landscape of professional wrestling has changed since 2019:

"Not for nothing, that (launch of AEW) was one of the most exciting things to happen to pro wrestling in a while. Because it was the first new, viable, big budget, big business company and I was part of that. Almost the same way I was a part of the early days of TNA, but this was even different, because the landscape of the business had changed so much so, that whole first year, the whole on-sale date, the announcement in Jacksonville, the press conference in Vegas, the first Double or Nothing… All of that was excitement because it was new and it was fresh and it was like, wow, the possibilities are out there, and that was all very positive and stuff I still look back on fondly."

Frankie Kazarian returned to IMPACT/TNA Wrestling in 2023 and signed a long-term deal with the promotion. It will be interesting to see if he returns to All Elite Wrestling someday.