Tony Khan On WWE-TNA Partnership: It’s Not Unusual For WWE To Collaborate When There Is A Strong Challenger Brand Like AEW

Tony Khan comments on the partnership between WWE and TNA Wrestling.

In July, Matt Hardy commented that he believed WWE was working with TNA Wrestling in part due to AEW and its existence. WWE and TNA formed a working partnership in January with TNA talent appearing on NXT and vice versa.

AEW President Tony Khan spoke with Ariel Helwani and was asked about Hardy’s comments.

“I really like Matt and Jeff a lot. I loved working with them in AEW and I still love them very much. I respect that opinion a lot and I think it’s probably true. The fact that Matt said it, that’s really cool,” said Tony.

Asked about the WWE-TNA partnership, Tony replied, “It’s a very interesting collaboration. Matt hit the nail on the head and it makes sense. AEW is a very strong challenger brand. It’s not that unusual.”

Asked if he took the partnership as a compliment, Tony said, “Absolutely. I remember when WCW was starting to do better, and Smoky Mountain was running Georgia, Vince McMahon called Jim Cornette and sent a bunch of WWF wrestlers to Smoky Mountain. I do think when you have a strong challenger brand, it’s not unusual to see the WWF collaborate with another company. I don’t take it personally. It makes some sense, looking at the wrestling playbook for the WWF.”

NXT talent has regularly appeared on TNA programming throughout the year, and has held TNA Championships.

Elsewhere during the interview, Tony commented on whether or not WWE reached out regarding Adam Copeland (Edge) being part of Cena’s retirement tour. You can find his comments here.

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