Tony Khan

Antony Rafiq Khan, meglio conosciuto come Tony Khan (Champaign, 10 ottobre 1982), è un imprenditore e dirigente sportivo statunitense di origini pakistane.

Biografia

Tony Khan è nato a Champaign (Illinois) il 10 ottobre 1982 da Ann Carlson e Shahid Khan; ha una sorella minore di nome Shanna.^[1]

Nel 2007 si è laureato presso l'Università dell'Illinois nella facoltà di scienza delle finanze.

Carriera

Tony Khan è, insieme al padre Shahid, il co-proprietario della squadra di football americano dei Jacksonville Jaguars, della squadra di calcio del Fulham Football Club e delle federazioni di wrestling della All Elite Wrestling e della Ring of Honor.

«È fuori discussione che Khan e l'AEW abbiano cambiato il mondo del wrestling professionistico in questi ultimi anni.»

Il lavoro svolto da Khan con la All Elite Wrestling gli ha fatto guadagnare il premio "Promoter of the Year" di Wrestling Observer Newsletter dal 2019 al 2022 e quello di "Best Booker" dal 2020 al 2022.^[3] Khan è stato inoltre lodato da molte personalità del mondo del wrestling, inclusi alcuni suoi dipendenti come Chris Jericho,^[4] Jim Ross,^[5] Jon Moxley,^[6] Britt Baker,^[7] Adam Cole,^[8] e Malakai Black.^[9]

Nel dicembre 2021, Khan venne criticato per dei commenti fatti in risposta alla sua decisione di licenziare la wrestler Big Swole dopo le sue accuse di mancanza di organizzazione; in risposta, Khan dichiarò di avere lasciato scadere il contratto di Swole senza rinnovarlo perché non la riteneva abbastanza valida come lottatrice."^[10]

Sebbene l'ex promoter di wrestling Eric Bischoff avesse lodato in precedenza la "passione" di Khan per l'industria del wrestling nel 2020,^[11] successivamente dichiarò al sito Solowrestling.com di ritenersi uno dei maggior detrattori di Khan e di volergli consigliare di smettere di prendere decisioni creative.^[12] Dave Scherer è stato molto critico nei confronti dello stile di management di Khan, descrivendolo come uno "dei peggiori booker e promoter di sempre",^[13] e scrisse: "[Khan] è visto come il bravo ragazzo di cui alcuni talenti si approfittano completamente."^[14] La sua decisione di licenziare CM Punk dopo una lite nel backstage accaduta al PPV All In nel 2023 ha ricevuto sia consensi che biasimi da varie parti.^[15]^[16]^[17]^[18]

Note

^ FULHAM FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED Company number 02114486, in Companies House - GOV.UK. URL consultato il 12 settembre 2020.
^ Mike Johnson, Two best shows of 2020, the Khans, WWE freezing salaries, MIZ getting the WWE title back & more, su pwinsider.com, 26 febbraio 2021. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
^ Dave Meltzer, 1 March 2021, Wrestling Observer Newsletter 2020 awards issue, Elimination Chamber, in Wrestling Observer Newsletter. URL consultato il 26 febbraio 2021.
^ Chris Jericho On Differences Between Working For Tony Khan And Vince McMahon, Khan's Leadership Style In AEW, in 411Mania.com, 18 settembre 2020. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
«Tony is very driven and he's very passionate and he knows what he wants... He's not a pushover in any way shape or form. I think that's kind of a misconception for people 'Tony Khan is a money mark and he doesn't know anything.' He does know.»
^ Jeremy Lambert, Jim Ross Praises Tony Khan For His Work Ethic And Enthusiasm, Compares AEW To The AFL, in Fightful, 26 dicembre 2020. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
«The rotor in the water is Tony Khan. He's the hardest working, most enthusiastic, educated wrestling fan I've ever encountered. His passion alone is one of the things that makes it fun to go to work because I've never worked for anybody quite like him. He is demonstratively enthusiastic. It's infectious.»
^ Mike Johnson, AEW Champion Jon Moxley Discusses 'Cagefighter: Worlds Collide', His Health After a Year Going Hard in the Ring, His Empty Arena Brawl With Jake Hager, Behind the Scenes of Cagefighter's Ultimate Fight Scene, His Next Film Project, How He Approaches Wrestling vs. His Time in WWE, Roman Taking Time Off, Cagefighter's Premiere on fite.tv, Whether Renee Young Got Heat For His Cameo on WWE Backstage Online & More: Full Transcript, in PWInsider.com, 27 aprile 2020. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
«I think he's a friend to most everybody in the roster, real easy and approachable, and not in a bad way... he's got a lot of business sense. He's business savvy, but also just an incredibly passionate wrestling fan.»
^ Joe Rivera, 'People are gonna think you're a b—': AEW's Dr. Britt Baker talks critics, championships and flossing, in Sporting News, 27 aprile 2020. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
«He can step on the other side and watch wrestling as a fan, and say, 'Is this something that I would enjoy?' versus is this something that's going to benefit his company, one way or another. I think what's so special... just Tony's passion for professional wrestling.»
^ Jeffrey Harris, Adam Cole on Differences in Creative for AEW & WWE NXT, Praises Tony Khan's Passion, in 411Mania.com, 20 maggio 2022. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
«His passion for pro wrestling is so contagious, that you can't help but get excited. Whether it be getting ready to do something or just ping-ponging ideas back and forth, he's very open to a bunch of different ideas, and at the end of the day, he’s someone that loves pro wrestling with his entire heart and soul. And if you love wrestling that much, me and you are going to get along really, really well.»
^ Jeremy Lambert, Malakai Black Discusses Squashing Cody Rhodes, Collaborating With Tony Khan, in Fightful, 11 agosto 2021. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
«He's [a] very enthusiastic and spontaneous individual. He has an incredible amount of love for what he does.»
^ (EN) Big Swole Says Lack Of Diversity And Structure Led To Her Leaving AEW, Tony Khan Responds, in Fightful. URL consultato il 18 gennaio 2022.
^ Jeremy Lambert, Eric Bischoff on If He Has More Respect For Tony Khan After They Spoke, The Possibility Of Working For AEW, in Fightful, 19 luglio 2020. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
«...a real appreciation for a very high level of passion in Tony...and clearly he's a very smart guy, he's been very successful in business... far more likely to be successful than I possibly would've given... credit for... but hearing his real, genuine passion for the business probably impressed me more than anything.»
^ (ES) Sebastian Martinez, Eric Bischoff, sobre Tony Khan: 'Escribe para un Tony Khan de 14 años que acude a los eventos de ECW', su Solowrestling.com, 16 settembre 2023. URL consultato il 5 dicembre 2023.
^ Dave Scherer, What Tony Khan Allowed To Happen At Full Gear Was Vile and Disgusting, And It Sure As Hell Wasn't Pro Wrestling in the Year 2023, su Pro Wrestling Insider, 20 novembre 2023. URL consultato il 28 novembre 2023.
^ Dave Scherer, Tony Khan has a group of people who he has been good to doing their best to destroy the thing he loves, su Pro Wrestling Insider, 16 giugno 2023. URL consultato il 25 giugno 2023.
^ (EN) Dave Meltzer, Daily Update: Tony Khan, All Out, Alex Hammerstone, su Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 3 settembre 2023. URL consultato il 4 settembre 2023.
«I will give him a lot of credit for this because regardless of arguments about how the situation was handled for the past 18 months, he easily could have just let it ride this weekend since everyone knew Punk was suspended and waited until after the PPV show to announce the firing, and just did the short taped prepared statement for television.»
^ Wade Keller, Keller's Take: In firing CM Punk, Tony Khan made the right move and did it in almost the right way, su Pro Wrestling Torch, 3 settembre 2023. URL consultato il 4 settembre 2023.
^ (EN) Sam Fels, CM Punk and Tony Khan took a molehill and made it Three Mile Island, su Deadspin, 3 settembre 2023. URL consultato il 4 settembre 2023.
^ Dave Scherer, Only Tony Khan Could Do The Right Thing And Four Hours Later Totally Destroy The Goodwill He Had Garnered - Trying To Make Sense of What Went Down With AEW and CM Punk Yesterday, su Pro Wrestling Insider, 3 settembre 2023. URL consultato il 4 settembre 2023.

Altri progetti

Wikimedia Commons contiene immagini o altri file su Tony Khan

Collegamenti esterni

(DE, EN) Tony Khan, su cagematch.net, Philip Kreikenbohm.
(EN) Tony Khan, su IMDb, IMDb.com.
(EN) Profilo sul sito di Forbes, su forbes.com.
(EN) Sito di Flex-N-Gate, su flex-n-gate.com.

Portale Biografie

Portale Sport

[1] FULHAM FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED Company number 02114486, in Companies House - GOV.UK. URL consultato il 12 settembre 2020.

[2] Mike Johnson, Two best shows of 2020, the Khans, WWE freezing salaries, MIZ getting the WWE title back & more, su pwinsider.com, 26 febbraio 2021. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.

[WON2020Awards-3] Dave Meltzer, 1 March 2021, Wrestling Observer Newsletter 2020 awards issue, Elimination Chamber, in Wrestling Observer Newsletter. URL consultato il 26 febbraio 2021.

[4] Chris Jericho On Differences Between Working For Tony Khan And Vince McMahon, Khan's Leadership Style In AEW, in 411Mania.com, 18 settembre 2020. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
«Tony is very driven and he's very passionate and he knows what he wants... He's not a pushover in any way shape or form. I think that's kind of a misconception for people 'Tony Khan is a money mark and he doesn't know anything.' He does know.»

[5] Jeremy Lambert, Jim Ross Praises Tony Khan For His Work Ethic And Enthusiasm, Compares AEW To The AFL, in Fightful, 26 dicembre 2020. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
«The rotor in the water is Tony Khan. He's the hardest working, most enthusiastic, educated wrestling fan I've ever encountered. His passion alone is one of the things that makes it fun to go to work because I've never worked for anybody quite like him. He is demonstratively enthusiastic. It's infectious.»

[6] Mike Johnson, AEW Champion Jon Moxley Discusses 'Cagefighter: Worlds Collide', His Health After a Year Going Hard in the Ring, His Empty Arena Brawl With Jake Hager, Behind the Scenes of Cagefighter's Ultimate Fight Scene, His Next Film Project, How He Approaches Wrestling vs. His Time in WWE, Roman Taking Time Off, Cagefighter's Premiere on fite.tv, Whether Renee Young Got Heat For His Cameo on WWE Backstage Online & More: Full Transcript, in PWInsider.com, 27 aprile 2020. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
«I think he's a friend to most everybody in the roster, real easy and approachable, and not in a bad way... he's got a lot of business sense. He's business savvy, but also just an incredibly passionate wrestling fan.»

[7] Joe Rivera, 'People are gonna think you're a b—': AEW's Dr. Britt Baker talks critics, championships and flossing, in Sporting News, 27 aprile 2020. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
«He can step on the other side and watch wrestling as a fan, and say, 'Is this something that I would enjoy?' versus is this something that's going to benefit his company, one way or another. I think what's so special... just Tony's passion for professional wrestling.»

[8] Jeffrey Harris, Adam Cole on Differences in Creative for AEW & WWE NXT, Praises Tony Khan's Passion, in 411Mania.com, 20 maggio 2022. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
«His passion for pro wrestling is so contagious, that you can't help but get excited. Whether it be getting ready to do something or just ping-ponging ideas back and forth, he's very open to a bunch of different ideas, and at the end of the day, he’s someone that loves pro wrestling with his entire heart and soul. And if you love wrestling that much, me and you are going to get along really, really well.»

[9] Jeremy Lambert, Malakai Black Discusses Squashing Cody Rhodes, Collaborating With Tony Khan, in Fightful, 11 agosto 2021. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
«He's [a] very enthusiastic and spontaneous individual. He has an incredible amount of love for what he does.»

[10] (EN) Big Swole Says Lack Of Diversity And Structure Led To Her Leaving AEW, Tony Khan Responds, in Fightful. URL consultato il 18 gennaio 2022.

[11] Jeremy Lambert, Eric Bischoff on If He Has More Respect For Tony Khan After They Spoke, The Possibility Of Working For AEW, in Fightful, 19 luglio 2020. URL consultato il 14 agosto 2021.
«...a real appreciation for a very high level of passion in Tony...and clearly he's a very smart guy, he's been very successful in business... far more likely to be successful than I possibly would've given... credit for... but hearing his real, genuine passion for the business probably impressed me more than anything.»

[12] (ES) Sebastian Martinez, Eric Bischoff, sobre Tony Khan: 'Escribe para un Tony Khan de 14 años que acude a los eventos de ECW', su Solowrestling.com, 16 settembre 2023. URL consultato il 5 dicembre 2023.

[13] Dave Scherer, What Tony Khan Allowed To Happen At Full Gear Was Vile and Disgusting, And It Sure As Hell Wasn't Pro Wrestling in the Year 2023, su Pro Wrestling Insider, 20 novembre 2023. URL consultato il 28 novembre 2023.

[14] Dave Scherer, Tony Khan has a group of people who he has been good to doing their best to destroy the thing he loves, su Pro Wrestling Insider, 16 giugno 2023. URL consultato il 25 giugno 2023.

[15] (EN) Dave Meltzer, Daily Update: Tony Khan, All Out, Alex Hammerstone, su Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 3 settembre 2023. URL consultato il 4 settembre 2023.
«I will give him a lot of credit for this because regardless of arguments about how the situation was handled for the past 18 months, he easily could have just let it ride this weekend since everyone knew Punk was suspended and waited until after the PPV show to announce the firing, and just did the short taped prepared statement for television.»

[16] Wade Keller, Keller's Take: In firing CM Punk, Tony Khan made the right move and did it in almost the right way, su Pro Wrestling Torch, 3 settembre 2023. URL consultato il 4 settembre 2023.

[17] (EN) Sam Fels, CM Punk and Tony Khan took a molehill and made it Three Mile Island, su Deadspin, 3 settembre 2023. URL consultato il 4 settembre 2023.

[18] Dave Scherer, Only Tony Khan Could Do The Right Thing And Four Hours Later Totally Destroy The Goodwill He Had Garnered - Trying To Make Sense of What Went Down With AEW and CM Punk Yesterday, su Pro Wrestling Insider, 3 settembre 2023. URL consultato il 4 settembre 2023.

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