When a promotion makes a booking decision it is done with what the person in charge thinks is the best decision at that time. Since AEW's inception, Tony Khan has made some great calls, taking chances on certain wrestlers while pushing others. However, the AEW President hasn't got everything spot on.
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As is the case with any promotion, there have been times when things just haven't worked out with ideas and storylines that he's pushed. Even if they seem like a great call on paper, some situations have just not worked out, and hindsight has proven that certain decisions simply weren't the right ones to make.
10 CM Punk Defeats Jon Moxley At All Out 2022
For the most part, Tony Khan has managed to get things spot-on when it comes to the AEW World Championship, but his desire to get the gold on CM Punk has not worked out. The first time was bad luck due to Punk getting injured, but when he faced the Interim AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, his victory was an issue in hindsight.
Not only did Punk get injured again, but he then spoke out during a press conference which made the company look terrible, and led to a backstage altercation with the EVPs. With hindsight, there's no doubt that Khan would have Moxley claim the gold in this particular moment.
9 Pushing Anthony Ogogo Against Cody Rhodes
During AEW's inception, Cody Rhodes was a key part of the product as he helped to create the company and the American Nightmare went on to become one of the biggest names on the roster. However, things soured a lot toward the end of his run, and a big part of that was down to this storyline.
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The idea seemed to be that this feud would help get Anthony Ogogo started in a big way, but the problem was that it ended up being a disaster. The promos and the angle that they took didn't work, and it turned fans against Rhodes which caused major problems for one of AEW's biggest stars.
8 Not Booking FTR vs. The Young Bucks Part. III
FTR facing The Young Bucks was the big match that everybody wanted to see from the moment the former WWE Superstars arrived in AEW, and Tony Khan wasted little time booking that. They then competed again in an even better match, but then it seemed like things were being set for an ideal third rubber match.
With The Young Bucks being the AEW World Tag Team Champions, while FTR held three separate tag titles, it seemed like a huge match was set to happen for all the gold. This could have headlined a PPV if AEW had committed to it, but instead, The Young Bucks dropped the gold and this never happened, which was a missed opportunity.
7 Not Booking The Young Bucks Vs. reDRagon
Another major tag team match Tony Khan decided to skip with The Young Bucks was them facing reDRagon. The tension was built between these two incredible teams for months, with Adam Cole being the middleman who was friends with all four wrestlers, but it was clear the situation was going to explode.
Fans were on board with this match happened, which could have let the audience pick their favorite duo to get behind. However, even though reDRagon did attack them, a match between the two never materialized.
6 Matt Hardy Continues To Wrestle
The health and safety of professional wrestlers is paramount, and fans expect each company to be making sure that is pushed, especially the biggest promotions in the business. So when Matt Hardy was legitimately knocked out at All Out in 2020 and was allowed to keep wrestling, people were rightly mad.
The decision to allow this to continue is something that should not have happened, as it was clearly not a safe situation for him or Sammy Guevara to be involved in. It gained the company some terrible PR, and in hindsight, this would no doubt be avoided.
5 American Top Team Take Up Time
MMA and wrestling might seem similar at times, but the worlds are very different and that is always clear when people crossover. Dan Lambert bringing in a faction of MMA stars proved that, with fans absolutely hating the run of American Top Team on AEW television.
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He got go-away heat as fans didn't want to see him, while the fact the MMA stars were often different stopped fans from connecting. Paige VanZant was the big star to be pushed here, yet she only had one match, with the amount of time dedicated to this not being worth the payoff.
4 Nightmare Collective
Tony Khan loves factions, with almost everyone on the roster being attached to some form of group, but that doesn't mean they've all been good. Brandi Rhodes created her own faction early in AEW's history known as the Nightmare Collective, and it proved to be one fans hated.
While there was talented people involved in the group, the way they were booked and showcased wasn't good enough. It turned fans off the product rather than the opposite situation, and that is never a good thing.
3 Cody Can't Win Gold
Cody Rhodes was someone that the AEW fans were firmly behind early on, to the point where a lot of people wanted to see him as the AEW World Champion. However, he pushed a stipulation that if he lost to Chris Jericho at Full Gear in 2020, he could never challenge for it again.
That is what ended up happening, but it hurt him a lot and restricted AEW's booking at the same time. There was only so much Tony Khan could do with him and fans couldn't invest either, with this being a mistake.
2 Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch
AEW has had no problem booking more violent and dangerous matches since its inception, which is something a lot of people have enjoyed as it's completely different from WWE's PG environment. That led to the exploding barbed wire deathmatch between Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega at Revolution in 2021.
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The match itself was fine, but the ending was supposed to be a big moment that saw everything explode, and should have been a huge spectacle. However, it ended up just being sprinklers, which made everyone look foolish, especially since Eddie Kingston came to 'save' Moxley, with this situation making AEW look B-rate.
1 Sammy Guevara & Scorpio Sky's TNT Title Debacle
The TNT Championship started out as a great title that helped put a lot of people on the map, pushing the likes of Brodie Lee and Darby Allin instantly. However, the storyline between Sammy Guevara and Scorpio Sky ended up being a huge mess that left the title in a weak spot it has yet to recover from.
Seeing them go back and forth with the gold, as an Interim version was added due to injury helped to create a complex situation that was difficult to understand. With both men playing heel characters there was nobody to invest in, with this storyline hurting everyone involved.
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