Tony Khan on Cody Rhodes’ Claims of Feeling Disrespected in AEW & Praises Rhodes for Positive Interactions Since He Left, Rumors He Blocked Shinsuke Nakamura from Being Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Retirement Opponent, & His Praise of Jon Moxley

Q101 held a recent interview with AEW CEO Tony Khan. One of the topics discussed included Khan’s thoughts about Cody Rhodes’ comments this past July during an interview with The Bill Simmons Podcast about him feeling disrespected during his time in AEW for a reason for his departure in 2022.

“You know, he does a lot of interviews and I think when you have to say so many words so often — he works so hard, he has such a big schedule. To his credit, I bet he does hundreds of interviews a year. I’m not sure I agree with that, but I also would give him the benefit of the doubt, I’ve heard him say a lot of positive things too. For somebody that doesn’t work here and that’s involved in a competitive promotion, he’s usually pretty gracious with the things that he says. I’ve seen him since he’s been gone and it’s always been very positive and good. I have only good things to say about him and his contributions here.”

Khan also gave his thoughts about him denying the rumors that he had blocked Shinsuke Nakamura from being the opponent for Hiroshi Tanahashi’s retirement match at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 20 event.

“That is actually something I read about and I was surprised to read that. I’m not sure where that all came from, I don’t really understand some of that story. It was a very detailed story with a lot of, if I may, it seemed like they thought they could read minds when they wrote that story. Not only did they say this happened and this happened, but he felt his way about it and he felt this way about it and then he was thinking. It’s like, well, are you telepathic? A lot of that never happened and a lot of it was like, how would you know what that guy was thinking or that guy? I thought that was an interesting story, I’ll put it that way. I’ve talked to him extensively about his retirement, worked with him and the idea of having Kazuchika Okada as his final opponent, it’s such an iconic thing. Their rivalry is so important to New Japan Pro Wrestling and to both men’s careers an to what has gone on to be a very successful promotion with AEW. I think it’s perfect and I’m very happy involved for Okada to be involved at Wrestle Kingdom as the final opponent of Tanahashi for his retirement match.”

In a separate interview with Sports Illustrated’s The Takedown on SI, Khan also gave his thoughts about his praise of Jon Moxley and Moxley getting healthier as this past year went on.

“Jon was pretty hurt at the start of the year. He was banged up, and he worked his way back in without ever taking time off. He’s been here all year, and he actually got healthier wrestling every week. The man’s a marvel.

He put out his very best all year. At the beginning of the year, he was pretty banged up, and actually came back and got healthy through the year while he was still wrestling and never taking time off.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2