Tony Khan: If You’re In AEW It’s Very Likely That You’re There Because You Really Love Wrestling

Tony Khan discusses talent scouting.

Since AEW’s inception in 2019, the company have sourced talent from all over the globe, including from Japan, Mexico, the UK and Australia. In 2025, the company has brought in talent from all over the world, not just to sign them permanently but also for sporadic appearances as enhancement talent.

While speaking to Sportico in a new interview, Tony Khan was asked about scouting and signing talent.

“Well, absolutely. I think for AEW, we’ve got the best roster of pro wrestlers in the world, and we scout all over. There are great talent pools. There’s great wrestling all over the world. Here in America, independent wrestling. You’ve got great wrestling in Japan. We’ve got a great relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling and with STARDOM, where we’re getting the best women and men out of Japan over the last few years, I really believe, and also out of Mexico, where we’ve got a great relationship with CMLL and we work together. There are a lot of wrestlers who work in both promotions, AEW and CMLL, which is the oldest wrestling promotion in the world. CMLL has been running out of Mexico for 92 years, and we’re the first promotion with AEW that they’ve ever hosted in Arena Mexico. Our most watched episode of AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite this year and in the past couple years has been this year’s AEW Grand Slam Mexico out of Arena Mexico, which was fantastic. So getting those great Lucha Libre stars out of Mexico has worked really well for us. Also out of England, the UK has got a fantastic, a really great crop of young wrestlers. Some of the top young wrestlers in the world have come out of the UK. We’ve got great stars out of Australia, and they’ve wrestled all over the world and built their reputations. We’ve got great stars that come from all over and there’s no one criteria, there’s no one set way to be a pro wrestler. They come in all different shapes and sizes and ideas and what’s great about the women and men in AEW is they love pro wrestling. If you’re in AEW it’s very likely that you’re there because you really love wrestling and you love what you do and you want to be a great wrestler and AEW is where the very best wrestle.”

Elsewhere in another recent interview, Blake Christian noted that he thinks Tony is still bugging Jack Harlow to let AEW license ‘Lovin’ On Me’. You can read more about that here.

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