AEW President and CEO Tony Khan recently addressed his interesting meeting with Shane McMahon and how it came about. The wrestling world has been nothing but crazy for the last few years, and many are chiming in on Khan’s recent shocking meeting with Shane McMahon, the son of former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. Tony Khan isn’t so different from Shane McMahon. They both have wealthy and successful fathers. They are both trying to make a name for themselves and carve out a spot for themselves.
The McMahon family had a dynasty in pro wrestling and it looked like that would continue. However, Vince McMahon is now out of the picture, and Stephanie has also stepped away. A McMahon by marriage, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, is running the company now as the Chief Creative Officer. While he’s had some returns as an on-air talent, Shane McMahon is no longer a part of WWE in an official capacity.
Shane McMahon recently resurfaced in a meeting with the president of WWE’s biggest US rival, AEW. It has been over a week since the private meeting in an office at the Arlington airport. The meeting took place on Monday, July 29, and the world is still buzzing about it. Not a whole lot was known about the meeting other than a photo that leaked via WrestleTalk.
Tony Khan recently spoke to Sedano & Kap and explained how the meeting came about and the buzz surrounding it. He stated the following on his shocking meeting with the son of Vince McMahon and the former WWE executive:
“As I understand, he’s not doing anything with WWE, and I had a really nice visit with him. I had heard from a lot of people that he was interested in talking, and it had become, frankly, a big media story to the point where I was getting asked on the record questions about it …
“I had never met him in advance of my first conversation with him. There was a lot of buzz about this so I thought it would certainly be worth talking. I have a lot of respect for him. I had never met him, but he seemed like a really nice guy.”
Shane has been MIA from WWE for a while. The last time we saw him was at the 2023 WrestleMania. We don’t know what Shane is up to now, but he was in Dallas at the same time Khan was so he decided to meet with Shane through a big name in wrestling. According to Tony Khan, someone barged in and took a picture of the pair talking during the meeting.
This may not seem like a big deal because it isn’t Vince, but Shane shouldn’t be taken lightly. Shane grew up in the business and knows a lot about both the ring and backstage sides of wrestling. Another plus is he can still get in the ring and get physical as evidenced by his last run in WWE.
However, perhaps the biggest part of this meeting between Tony Khan and Shane McMahon is someone from the McMahon family meeting with someone from AEW. Having a McMahon work with not just a rival promotion, but the biggest rival promotion would be huge. Seeing Shane come out on Dynamite would blow everyone’s mind. Shane could also bring a lot of connections with him.
Courtesy Of WWE
The reaction to Shane meeting with Khan is overall shock but followed by interest and excitement to see Shane join AEW in some fashion. Many of the wrestlers in AEW know Shane personally and would be excited to work with him again.
One of Shane’s old colleagues is the legendary Jim Ross. Ross expressed his opinion on whether he thinks Shane would or should join the team at AEW on his Grilling JR podcast. JR said about the recent meeting between Tony Khan and Shane McMahon:
“If Shane could help us, help AEW, meaning us then Tony would hire him and Shane would accept the offer … He could add a lot, he could do some physical things within reason, he has great name identity, people know who he is … Tony is an entrepreneur and if he thought that Shane could help us in AEW, and if Shane thought he could have some fun, make a payday. I’m sure Shane is not in need of a significant cash influx, but he wants to have fun and contribute.”
Ross expressed how beneficial Shane could be to AEW both on-screen and off-screen if he does join. He also asked the question if Shane wanted to get back involved in wrestling then where else could he go besides AEW? If WWE doesn’t want him then why not go with the number two company? AEW’s rocket ship to the top has started to slow down and maybe Shane could add some fuel back in the tank. Maybe he could also help get it back on track.
Do you think Tony Khan’s meeting with Shane McMahon means anything or was it just a little chat? Would having Shane join AEW help the promotion? Do you think his role would be on-screen, off, or a bit of both? Let us know on social media if you would be excited to see Shane join a non-WWE promotion in some capacity.
