Tony Khan on Persephone Confirmed To Be Medically Cleared By June & Competing in Women’s Owen Hart Cup, New Day Potentially Joining AEW, Him Taking Less Shots Against WWE & Denies Report Regarding Talk Of AEW’s Next TV Deal

Ring of Honor held a media scrum following Friday’s ROH Supercard of Honor 2026 event at Wicomico Civic Center in Salisbury, Maryland. Among the speakers was ROH owner and AEW CEO Tony Khan. One of the topics discussed included Khan confirming that Persephone will be medically cleared from her injury by this June and she is still set to be competing in this year’s upcoming Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Cup tournament.

“It was really unfortunate when Persephone got hurt. Really unfortunate. I am such a huge fan of Persephone. I’m very excited that right now, the doctors have said she’ll be back in June and she’ll be able to compete in the Owen Hart Foundation tournament. That is great for us.”

On the topic of the potential of New Day’s Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods potentially joining AEW, Khan gave mostly a non-answer due to him believing he is not allowed to talk about New Day due to them still being contractually obligated with WWE. Khan did give his praise of both Kingston and Woods being great wrestlers.

“I cannot comment, or I don’t think I should comment on wrestlers that still have a contractual obligation. As I understand it, I believe they are still obligated, and I don’t believe I’m allowed to talk to them. As such, I don’t feel it would be right to comment on them under the circumstances except to say that I think they are great wrestlers,”

On the topic of him taking less shots at WWE these days compared to the past, Khan stated that Jay Briscoe’s death lead him to change his outlook on life and credited finding Jesus for his new approach towards life and his issues with WWE. Khan also gave his thoughts denying a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that claimed someone in WWE has been spreading word within the company saying AEW won’t be with Paramount and doubted if they could even get a viable TV deal elsewhere.

“I saw something today, and it’s just a report, I don’t know if this is true. It could be true, but a lot of reports have substance to them, but you never know firsthand when you’re hearing third-hand reports. I saw a report today that somebody in WWE is telling people within WWE, talking about AEW’s next TV deal and talking about what we’re doing. I was surprised by that. All I’ll say is, what they said could not be further from the truth. They are entitled to their opinions. I’ve been trying to be respectful to them and try to conduct myself as a gentleman. For them to go on background and spread these things, I’ll just turn the other cheek. Maybe a couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have done it like that.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1, 2, & 3