AEW: Tony Khan on Being “Very Open” To Idea of AEW Women’s Continental Classic, Ace Austin on Joining AEW & Warm Reception from AEW Locker Room, MVP on Reason for His AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 Abscense

Sep 11, 2025

Tony Khan Comments on Being “Very Open” To Idea of AEW Women’s Continental Classic

Q93 held a recent interview with AEW CEO Tony Khan. One of the topics discussed included Khan’s thoughts about him being very open to the idea of introducing an AEW Women’s Continental Classic tournament in the future.

“We’ve got the women’s world title and the TBS title, I think that the Continental would be something very interesting. We had some injuries happen in the women’s division earlier this year at the All In pay-per-view. I think it would be a great thing if we get the division healthy where we’ve got all of our top fighters ready to go, that could be a really great thing. That’s a very intense tournament with matches every week. I am very open to it, especially if we can get all the top wrestlers healthy to compete.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Ace Austin Comments on Joining AEW & Warm Reception from AEW Locker Room

A recent episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast featured Ace Austin as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Austin’s thoughts about his decision to join AEW and the warm reception he received from the AEW locker room.

“Well, the way that the whole thing kind of fell into place was pretty crazy, but, as far as considering AEW as an option, it would be its a top option, it’s a top player. No-brainer, exactly. That’s the better word for it. When I went into free agency earlier this year, I really wasn’t sure what the next step would look like, and I just took a little bit of time to catch my breath, you know? Because I started training when I was 17 and I debuted when I was 18 and it’s pretty much just been 10 years non-stop. Even during COVID, I was still regularly taping so, 10 years non-stop and six years on TV and it’s just like never slow down was always kind of how I treated it, and yeah, so coming into free agency was just, like, I took a quick breath and I started to have some conversations and see what the next steps might look like, and then when I saw AEW was coming to Cincinnati — my career has been so many instances of right place, right time and that just sort of all started to fall into place. I really started tuning into more of what AEW was doing kind of recently, especially with the accessibility on HBO Max… So yeah, AEW comes to Cincinnati. I hit ‘em up and said, ‘Hey, that’s an hour from my house so I’d love to come hang out and say hello to my friends that are there and make some new friends,’ and that was the surprising thing too. I really wasn’t sure how familiar I was gonna be. Watching the program, there’s so many people that I know, but you never really know what it’s gonna be like until you’re there. So coming into the locker room, I really wasn’t sure what the vibe was gonna be like but, everybody, immediately came up and was so warm and welcoming, and that was lovely, and almost everybody there I’ve met or have some sort of relationship with so, I hit ‘em up and said, ‘Hey, I’d like to come hang out while you guys are in Cincinnati and say hello to some friends and make some new friends maybe,’ you know? Actually, I was planning on coming Thursday, and then Wednesday, I got a text and was like, ‘Hey, are you here?’ ‘Not at the moment but I’m an hour away, and I can be there immediately.’ So they had me come down and do the promo and then, Thursday was the match…”

Austin also gave his thoughts about his AEW in-ring debut against Ricochet.

“I will admit, I was a little nervous in Cincinnati. I was a little nervous for sure. I wasn’t freaking out or nothing but it was like the first time in a long time that I was in an uncomfortable — not uncomfortable — in a different setting. First time in six years that I had been with a different company at this level… That night in Cincinnati, it was just a different direction. I was heading in a different direction, I could feel that things were kind of different so, there was some nervousness, a little bit of uneasiness. But I was really able to just have that conversation with myself where I say, ‘Don’t forget, this is what you do.’ Doesn’t matter what the stage is. I’m going out to do the same thing I’ve done every week for the last 10 years of my life. It’s this.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

MVP Comments on Reason for His AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2025 Abscense

A recent episode of the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast featured MVP as the guest. One of the topics discussed included MVP’s thoughts about how his past criminal record prevented him from winning and having a WWE World Championship run during his time in WWE.

“I don’t know this for an absolute fact, because I wasn’t in on the meeting, but I was told by some people that were. As a matter of fact, one of the writers, [said] there was talk about MVP being World Heavyweight Champion, but there was reservations because of my felony conviction. So for those of your viewers who don’t know, when I was a teenager, I was coming up in Miami, rough gang violence. I was an armed robber, and I did a robbery, and I ended up going to prison for several years. Nine and a half years. I served from 16 to 26. [Originally sentenced to] 18 and a half with a mandatory three for the sawed off shotgun, meaning for three years you can’t get time off for good behavior.
Consequently, it was as a result of that, when I was at work release, getting out of prison, I met a correctional officer [called] Primetime Daryl D, he was an indie worker, and that’s how I got into the business. Because he would bring in videotapes for us to watch in the morning before they would open up the center to let us go to work. So guys couldn’t leave till seven, so it’d be like, 10 15, minutes, people just kind of milling around. he’d bring in tapes. I would be, Hey, man, how do you guys do that without really killing each other? He’s like, Well, I see you out there playing basketball, working out. You got a good physique. You’re athletic. When you get out, if you want to give it a try, I’ll show you something. So that’s how I broke into wrestling. But going back to my conviction, it was at work release that I met the correctional officer who introduced me to my career. But now I’m a convicted felon.”

MVP also gave his thoughts about how his past criminal record also prevented him from being able to travel to the United Kingdom and his absence from this year’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door event in London.

“Because there were potentially countries that I couldn’t get into. So how can you be the World Heavyweight Champion, but you can’t go to this country? Like going to Japan. Japan is very strict about people who [can enter], like James Brown, they wouldn’t let into Japan. But because I went over for a Japanese company, they were able to smooth it over with the visa process. Canada. I couldn’t get into Canada for a long time. I had to go through a process there where people had to write letters of recommendation. It costs 1000s of dollars in legal fees to get something in Canada. They call it a letter of rehabilitation. They said, Okay, you’re rehabilitated. You can come to Canada. You always have to bring this letter with you, because if they ask, ‘Have you been convicted of a felony?’ I say ‘Yes, but here’s my letter of rehabilitation.’ Then I can get in. Australia, the last time I went to Australia was with Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore. It literally took an act of Congress, and at the 12th hour, some Parliament official, nobody wanted to sign off on my document to let me in. Somebody knew somebody, and some member of parliament or whatever, signed off on it, and I was able to get in Australia. Now England, the United Kingdom, just started the electronic transfer authorization, and they ask the question, ‘Have you been convicted of a felony that required you to have a 12-month stay or longer in a correction?’ Well, yeah, I did nine and a half years, so I answered truthfully, and that’s why I wasn’t allowed in for Forbidden Door. So coming full circle, as it was told to me, there was a conversation about me being a World Champion. But there were reservations because of my convicted felony.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com