AEW Redemption Media Scrum: Early Start Time Reason, Swerve Strickland AEW Abscense Update, Sammy Guevara AEW Status Update, Tay Melo To Be Granted Release & Melo Stepping Away From Wrestling, Reason for MJF’s Abscense, Hangman Page, Potential Crockett Cup Style Tag Tournaments in AEW, & More

AEW CEO Tony Khan held a media scrum today to promote this Sunday’s AEW Redemption event at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Some of the notable highlights included:

• On the topic of Redemption’s early start time of 6PM EST compared to usual AEW pay-per-view events start times, Khan stated that he wanted to experiment with an earlier PPV start time to see how it works for the audience.
• On the topic of Swerve Strickland’s current abscense from AEW, Khan stated that Strickland is on good terms with AEW and will be representing the company at San Diego Comic-Con 2026 this weekend. Khan also stated that he will answer more questions about Strickland after Redemption.
• On the topic of Sammy Guevara’s status with AEW following him removing AEW from his Twitter account bio, Khan stated “Sammy (Guevara), I thought it was unusual that people said there was a change in Sammy’s status because nothing has changed. Sammy’s done well. He’s wrestling in Ring of Honor more often. He’s done some good things in AEW and he’s one-half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions — had appeared in AEW with L.F.I… As I understand it, when Sammy changed his bio, I don’t think Sammy ever had AEW in the bio in the first place so I don’t think it was any negative change and I got a nice message from Sammy saying he wasn’t trying to do anything bad and he loves AEW, and I believe that, and Sammy has been a good wrestler for us in AEW and ROH. He’s a great talent and a very good person, so I don’t think he meant to do anything, and it seemed like people jumped on him for something he didn’t even do. Certainly just messing around with the Twitter bio. It’s pretty amazing how people would jump to conclusions but also jump on him, and in my opinion, in this case, probably unfairly…”
• On the topic of Anna Jay’s AEW contract status, Khan stated that Jay had recently signed a new contract extension. Khan also stated that Jay is currently dealing with an injury and got an MRI for it for the reason for her current abscense from AEW.
• On the topic of Tay Melo’s status with AEW, Khan stated “With Tay (Melo), also a lot of inaccurate things I saw about Tay, and to be honest, in this case, there was smoke to the fire but people were reporting the fire in the wrong place, so what does that really accomplish? And with Tay, Tay had said she wanted to step away from wrestling. She has said, ‘I love AEW and I love the people here but I wanted to step away from AEW and step away from wrestling,’ and that’s what she told me. That wasn’t in 2025. That was weeks ago at Collision after she wrestled against the Divine Dominion, and she came to me after the match, and said, ‘I would like a release,’ and I was taken aback, and we had a very nice talk. It’s far to the contrary of what I’ve seen reported about this being last year or that it’s been an ongoing thing, and I heard from Tay this week and she said she’s not putting those reports out and it really bothered her, and we haven’t had an unpleasant conversation ever. I’ve always had a very good relationship with Tay, and she has asked about stepping away recently. It hasn’t been a long thing and also, I haven’t kept her here. Since that talk, I haven’t brought her back, booked her, and I am gonna give Tay that release.”
• On the topic of free agents currently in the market, Khan stated that he has had his eye out on multiple recently released wrestlers.
• On the topic of MJF’s current abscense since the AEW Dynamite Beach Break 2026 show and him not being scheduled for Redemption, Khan stated “We love having him as a part of AEW when he’s healthy and fit to compete. He’s been through a lot of big matches. That’s what’s tremendous about having such a strong roster of wrestlers: being able to not have to pressure them because we want to extend these wrestlers’ careers. In the case of MJF, he’s somebody that I hope is wrestling for decades and decades at a top level. He’s had some major injuries this year that he’s been fighting through, as a credit to him. It speaks highly of MJF. I’m looking forward to his return to AEW when he’s back, which he will be back, very soon, I’m sure. I’m grateful the injuries he sustained are nothing that will keep him out really long-term. I’m glad he’s going to be okay.“
• On the topic of Hangman Adam Page’s in-ring abscense since this past March’s Revolution 2026 and potential in-ring return plans, Khan stated that Page’s in-ring return “feels imminent” and that fans can expect to see him “very soon.“
• On the topic of AEW doing a potential Crockett Cup-style tag team tournament in the future, Khan stated “It’s so cool that you asked that because, yes, I have been thinking a lot about having a big tag team tournament with teams throughout the world of wrestling. You mentioned we have a lot of great partner promotions… A lot of great teams we’re building. Teams that are featured in AEW and some that we’re building up to be featured more in AEW, some that haven’t come onto the show at all yet. But I think there’s a lot of great tag teams there… Yes, I think that’s a great thought and it’s something I have considered, and also would like to do as we continue building up more women’s tag teams, and developing women’s tag teams in AEW and ROH to try to get that same depth hopefully there too…”
• On the topic of if Kenny Omega vs. MJF for the AEW World Championship was tabbed for Redemption, Khan stated that he had to keep “some sleight of hand in these things” and was happy with how things played out.
• Khan also stated that he was optimistic about the WBD-Paramount merger deal and working under Paramount CEO David Ellison. Khan also talked about AEW’s ratings and recent PPV numbers. Khan stated that Beach Break was the most-viewed AEW show on TBS in two years.

AEW Redemption media scrum full audio: F4WOnline.com

Source: PostWrestling.com, Fightful.com 1, 2, 3, & 4