Swerve Strickland: Tony Khan Is A Player’s Booker, He Knows How To Utilize All His Players In The Right Way

Swerve Strickland states his belief that Tony Khan is a ‘player’s booker’.

The pay at the top of both WWE and AEW has been a topic of conversation since AEW’s inception in 2019, as several stars have looked to negotiate with both promotions to earn the most they can as a performer.

While speaking to Baller Talk in a new interview, Swerve Strickland spoke about the pay disparity in WWE and AEW, noting that AEW pays better ‘by far’.

“AEW by far. By far. Cause, cause it’s guaranteed, and they got their select few up top that like top, top, top. Like they’re just like untouchables. But a lot of those guys are starting to retire now so that’s starting to like- Cena just retired. AJ Styles just retired. Those are like the top top earners, like Taker can’t go no more So that pyramid is starting to really get really pointy and small at the top. So up here is like, because if I could compare the two, like Tony Khan owns AEW. He’s also a part owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Fulham soccer team in the UK. He treats the roster like talent, like not talent, but like athletes. You know, there’s player coaches, there’s organization, there’s system coaches. He’s a player’s booker. He’s in tune with his talent and his roster and where to put those guys and like, he utilizes us very well, and it’s like a scheme on a football team. So me and him gel very, very, very, very well because he knows my strengths. He knows where I belong. He knows how to utilize all his players in the right way. So, therefore, he knows how to pay them too and motivate them in certain ways. He’s- especially we’re only in year seven of the company. which is a very small, very, very small window and short time of being in a wrestling promotion as big as we are. We did 80,000 seats in Wembley Stadium and we filled it.”

Elsewhere in another recent interview, Swerve spoke about how it’s hard to compare him to wrestlers in the past. You can read more about that here.

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.