Tony Khan explains why he agreed not to renew William Regal’s AEW contract
Tony Khan made the decision to let William Regal return to WWE so that Regal could help train his son, NXT wrestler Charlie Dempsey.
The president of AEW revealed on a media call prior to ROH Final Battle on Monday that he first learned that Regal was hoping to return to WWE during a difficult time for the Khan family. Tony Khan’s mother suffered two strokes and required surgery to remove a patch from her heart in the months following All Out. Khan was at home with his parents on his 40th birthday on October 10 when he got a call about Regal.
“Watched Monday night football at my parents’ house with my parents. My mum was connected to so many machines and I was just praying that my mum’s surgery would go well. That same night I got a phone call and she was saying William Regal had approached Mega and it was all very legitimate and valid “.
Khan went on to say that Regal asked AEW not to choose the option year in his contract after the deal expired at the end of the year.
Basically, he has a son who works for another wrestling promotion and he really wanted us at the end of the year when we had the option to renew the contract he was asking that we not do it. of his career with his son.
“It’s a very complicated situation for AEW because it’s such a big part of what we do on screen, and we really appreciate it, and there are so many storylines he’s been involved in at this point. As we were going to Toronto that week, I obviously had a lot on my mind.” .
Khan continued to talk about discovering that his mother would have surgery to remove a spot on her heart during this time.
“That was the timing of the application from Regal and I really had to think about it. Both shows in Toronto were very successful and then that weekend my mum had heart surgery and when I came back my dad and my sister were already there in the hospital since the day before “.
Khan said his mother’s surgery was a success but she struggled to recover in front of it. He was spending his nights in the hospital with her at this time.
“My mom was asleep and I got a message from Regal and he was asking if we could talk. I made time to talk to him and I went outside the hospital. So I’m sitting on a park bench in front of the Mayo Clinic Sunday night and we had this very good long talk and it was very positive. He really had it.” Well intentions, I would say, because of his desire to come back. It made a lot of sense to me that he wanted to work with his son and be with his son.”
“Honestly, the last thing I wanted to do at that moment was to forbid any parent and any child, any son, from being together while I was sitting on a park bench, Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, with my mother asleep inside recovering from a major operation.”
Later that week we had a Rampage live at the Daily’s Place in Jacksonville and I sat with Regal for over 90 minutes in my office afterward. It was probably the longest personal conversation I ever had with him. Something for you and your family because this is a family business first The guy who was released later this month, who’s still with us over the holidays, has been an essential part of multiple TV stories and continues to be an essential part of TV as of tonight and we’ve done a lot of things to help him create the best situation Possible for his family. For me, my mom is doing really well and we’re really grateful.”
“I probably won’t be able to facilitate every family reunion, but I’m trying to make this company a family first and especially in this situation, that’s what we’ve done.”
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