Tony Khan is in his Paul Heyman Era — Only Better

Abstract: 2025 AEW is a wonderful mix of 90’s era ECW, 80’s era AJWPW, and 2003 Smackdown.

Through a lot of the general false narratives and general bullshit the IWC throws at AEW, the following might have been missed: Tony Khan is booking AEW like Paul Heyman right now. Quite the statement, right? However, when you examine Heyman’s booking style, combined with the uptick in quality of AEW programming this year, a clear trend forms. Now TK has always had multiple influences beyond Heyman. This includes New Japan’s Gedo, Dusty Rhodes, and even Jim Cornette. And this is common for any modern day bookers. Paul Levesque is clearly influenced by Vince McMahon, Paul Heyman, and I’d even argue Gabe Sapolsky.

But when you examine what the AEW product in it’s current form, and especially from the lens of a huge 90’s ECW fan, I see Paul Heyman. Though Khan has his own unique style, it seems like right know he’s letting his “extreme” side flourish. However, he’s doing it better.

One could honestly say that AEW has become the spiritual successor to ECW, TNA (six-sided-ring era), 80’s era AJ(W)PW, and Chikara wrapped up in one.

Crazy? Not really. Let’s dig in…

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Heyman Appreciated Athleticism

Remember the “Smackdown Six”? Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Edge, Chavo Guerrero, Eddie Guerrero, and Rey Mysterio. — Six wrestlers that delivered quality matches week in and week out. These six talents reinvigorated Smackdown from 2002-03 — and the head writer?

Paul Heyman.

And this wasn’t all. Add in Matt Hardy, Rob Van Dam, Billy Kidman, Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin, Paul London, Nunzio, Tajiri — and I might even be forgetting some.

Some of the best matches in Smackdown history occurred between the years of 2002-03, and that was all Paul Heyman and his focus on pure athleticism and wrestling. He’s had this philosophy since ECW. Even in the mid-90s we have this boost of athleticism and pure wrestling, ie; 2 Cold Scorpio, Jericho, Guerrero, Benoit, Malenko, Mysterio, Sabu, Tajiri, Super Crazy, the list goes on and on…

What do we get with AEW? “Sports-Based”. A true focus on athleticism week in and week out. Rarely have you seen talents on AEW TV that can’t “go” — and especially now in 2025 with a notable shift in product presentation.

It’s not just Ospreay, Takeshita, Fletcher, and Omega. It’s Kevin Knight, Speedball Bailey, The Young Bucks, Ricochet, the list goes on. On any given Dynamite or Collision, you’re going to see a plethora of athletes doing things you won’t see in any other major wrestling promotion. It’s one of many things that sets AEW apart as a alternative.

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Heyman Went “Extreme”

This is an easy one. We all know Heyman’s pension for violence in ECW. AEW is no stranger to violence. While the use of blood has been toned down a bit, we still get it at major PPVs, and the occasional street fight/hardcore match on weekly TV. This is a departure from WWE, and as recent reports indicate, TNA. Which is really good, as it continues to separate AEW as that true alternative.

Heyman wasn’t afraid to push the envelope. Neither is Tony Khan.

While everyone has their own tastes here, this influence has paved the way for AEW to become the only mainstream option for a more violent, “real”, and gritty product. WWE has been able to utilize blood a little bit more in the past few years, but as a TVPG product responsible to their shareholders, they only have some much creative freedom in that department.

In AEW, for the most part, anything goes. Much like classic ECW.

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Adult Themes

Speaking of “real” and “gritty” — this idea continues in AEW’s characters. Do you think you’d see a Toni Storm promo in WWE? “The slut you can’t rebut — the whore you adore…” and the many many references to sex in her promos.

Never. WWE is a family product. It’s not happening.

MJF constantly pushes the boundaries with his promos, often dropping S-Bombs in the process. His recent interactions with The Hurt Syndicate have been more adult in nature. Moxley, Page, Strickland — all tend to deliver more adult-oriented content; even “cryptic” if you’re Moxley. When Swerve compared AEW to A24 Films, and WWE to formulaic blockbusters — he was right. There is a clear line drawn between what you see on AEW TV in adult content compared to their competitor.

And this is a good thing. It gives fans options. It caters to their preferences.

But also, this was something Heyman invested early in with ECW, which more or less ushered in WWF’s Attitude Era. It lives on in AEW. 

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Using Space

Paul Heyman liked to use space, both in promos and in-ring.

When TK moved AEW to smaller arenas, have you noticed how well they use the space? Almost every venue looks different — intimate — and the space is used quite well. You’ll often see fights break into the crowd, in and around the ring, and even outside. Barricades, steps, the entrance ramp — all tend to be utilized at every show during matches. Promos can fluctuate between outside, backstage, in the bleachers, at the top of the ramp — anywhere and everywhere.

And the result? Notably hotter crowds in 2025. Notably unique and well-produced segments.

This obviously isn’t just Heyman. As far back as All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling in the 80s/90s I remember plenty of matches where space in the area is used quite well, as opposed to keeping everything contained to one area. But is this a signifier of Heyman’s style?

Yep. And Khan is utilizing it as much as he can to make his product look a little different.

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A Global Mindset

Remember when Rey Mysterio and Juventud Guerrera had a hardcore match; one of the best in lucha history? If not, that happened in ECW — well before both became household names in WCW. From Jinsei Shinzaki and Hayabusa to Rey Mysterio, Psichosis, and Juventud Guerrera, Heyman featured global talent on his stage more often than not.

And while I will give credit to McMahon and WWF for featuring the likes of Bull Nakano, the Jumping Bomb Angels, and other Japanese imports at different times through the 90s, Heyman made it a featured part of his shows — especially lucha libre.

The key word here is “featured”. 

TK leans heavily into lucha libre and gives TV time to multiple current luchadores — Hologram, Kommander, Gravity, Hechicero, and plenty more from CMLL. He did the same when they had a relationship with AAA long before being bought out by WWE. Khan has always done this, and names from different promotions (New Japan, Stardom, CMLL, AAA, TJPW, DDT, etc.) appearing in AEW is the norm.

Again, this is a signifier for what Paul Heyman would do had he had his own promotion post-ECW. As a comparison, while some fans may point out that WWE features foreign talent on their rosters, rarely, if ever, do they feature a talent from another promotion just for the sake of it. Simply for the exposure — for the culture.

Miyu Yamashita took on Toni Storm on Dynamite last week, and while she’s not part of the AEW roster, now a large chunk of fans previously unfamiliar with her may now know who she is. She was booked simply because she’s a notable global talent, and deserved that spot, even if just for a week.

Wrestling culture is important, and Khan brings that in his AEW product. Since Day 1 he’s acknowledged that other wrestling promotions exist — something his competitor really only started doing in the last couple of years.

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Unscripted Promos

It’s no secret that Heyman did not like the overly produced style of promos that WCW and WWF offered at the time.

In 2016 interview with ESPN, Heyman was quoted in regards to his promos:

“It’s sex. It’s music,” Heyman said. “And there’s a rhythm to it, and there’s an interaction to it. There’s something very deeply personal about it as well. So once you tap into that you’re hooked, and you seek that every time you dare open your mouth in a public forum.”

While he does defend WWE’s use of scripted promos, it’s been well known that Heyman prefers something off the cuff. Something that seems personal and that’s coming from the talent themselves and not a group of writers behind the scenes.

Khan takes a similar approach with his talent, largely letting them guide their own promos, and he has since AEW’s inception. Has this always worked out? No. Not at all — but arguably some of the best promos in AEW history were not ones that were scripted line-by-line. Again, this is similar to Heyman’s approach in the days of ECW.

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Before we get into the beef of this article — one major difference between AEW and ECW…

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One Difference of Note: AEW’s Women’s Division

This is where the comparison to 1980’s/90’s All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling comes into play. Unfortunately, Paul Heyman did not think much of women on wrestling programming unless they were mostly nude and lewd. And while Khan had a rough start to featuring his women and making them feel important – that has drastically changed now.

Not only do we see a much faster, stiffer, and technical style from the women’s division, they are starting to become featured. A women’s match on an AEW PPV card is automatically going to be a contender for MOTN simply due to the talent pool. Mone, Storm, Hayter, Statlander, Bayne, Nightingale, Rosa, Aminata, Starkz, Cameron, etc…

And if Khan adds a few more names to that list from recent WWE releases (Baszler, Kai, Shotzi), the division becomes incredibly deep.

This is the best version of AEW’s women’s division right now. Literally right now. No honest fan can convince me that any other division in the world right now is at this level, and it looks like this trend will continue.

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A Focus on Youth (the big one)

When asked in 2011 how he would have booked TNA, Heyman revealed that he would have axed anyone over 40. He has even stated that he prefers to have a roster under 35.

When we tend to take a look at the names at the top of the card in AEW, we see a trend: They’re notably young in terms of pro wrestling. Paul Heyman has always wanted the focus of his talent on youth. There are, of course, exceptions. But for the most part, Khan is putting younger names on TV on a weekly basis.

Swerve Strickland (34), “Hangman” Adam Page (33), Will Ospreay (31), MJF (29), Jay White (32), and Darby Allin (32) — most would agree that these are some of AEW’s top names. And all of them are under the age of 35. When we take a look at the women’s division in comparison, we see a similar trend. World Champion Toni Storm is only 29-years-old. Jamie Hayter (30), Kris Statlander (29), Willow Nightingale (31), Megan Bayne (26) — all haven’t even hit 32 yet. Even Mercedes Mone can join this list at a young 33.

For the competitor brand, especially one that is a sports-based wrestling product, having a chunk of your roster compete in their middle age simply doesn’t calculate. When we look at the NFL and NBA, two of the more demanding sports — their average athletes’ ages are between 26 and 27.

Athletes like LeBron James and Tom Brady (as much as I despise him as a Jets fan) are outliers and legends in their sports. There aren’t many players in any sport that can compete at a high level in the late 30s/40s.

So why would this not apply for AEW? Why wouldn’t Khan build a brand of young, exciting, and talented athletes to take pro wrestling into the future? Because let’s face it:

The only way a WWE or Casual fan becomes interested in AEW, is if they see something notably unique that they can’t get from Raw or Smackdown. 

In essence, AEW needs to become the cool kids again. They were the cool kids at first, but then they became reckless, started failing at school, and were grounded by their mothers. It’s time to leave the bedroom and get a job.

This trend of young featured talent does continue down the card as well…

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The Future of the Future

The Don Callis Family has served a greater purpose than we all may realize: Putting younger stars in important spots on the show.

Two prime examples of this are Konosuke Takeshita (29) and Kyle Fletcher (26). Both are arguably closer to the main event than we all may realize — and there’s a certain late 90s HBK-esque swagger and easy unlikability that I see in Fletcher, personally.

Will Hobbs (34) finally holds gold, and joins this list. And as we’ve seen with the recent undercard, “Speedball” Mike Bailey (34), “The Jet” Kevin Knight (28), and ROH TV Champion Nick Wayne (19) are receiving notable TV time. Danny Garcia (26) is a former TNT Champion at his young age. Bandido (30), Top Flight (Darius/25 – Dante/23), and Blake Christian (27) are also names AEW fans have been seeing a lot lately.

When we cross over to the women — it’s a similar vibe. Julia Hart (23) has already been a champion in AEW and the sky’s the limit for her. Speaking of which, when Skye Blue (25) does return, add her to the list. Harley Cameron (31) is still super over with fans, her good friend Mariah May (25) (who might be WWE bound), is fresh off a successful program with Toni Storm. Queen Aminata is (31), and one of her opponents from ROH, Billie Starkz (20) has already faced Jamie Hayter and Mercedes Mone on weekly TV in high profile matches.

Tony Khan is planting seeds right now — and they are all young buds.

AEW needs to become New Japan, NXT, Raw and Smackdown all in one.

Your future is in the undercard, your top “veterans” are in important feuds, and your main eventers are young – all delivered in the AEW “style”. If I’m Khan, the message needs to be sent that the future is in Jacksonville, not Stamford.

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“Veterans”

You have the guys that maybe don’t fit the “youth” mold, but still have a lot of years left in them. Ricochet (36), Adam Cole (35), and Kazuchika Okada (37) are industry veterans, but I don’t see them hanging their boots up anytime soon. Current International Champion, Kenny “By Gawd” Omega is a young 41-years-old, and still going strong. If we believe Max Caster (34) and Anthony Bowens (35) still have something to give, they fit this category as well. And if we still remember Sammy Guevara (I still believe in Sammy!), he is only 32. And while appearances can be sparse, Thunder Rosa (38) and Serena Deeb (38) both provide steady hands to the women’s roster.

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But what if we cleared out most of the 40 and over talent?

Taking the Axe to the Roster…

Now obviously, you don’t just want to give a stack of pink slips to anyone 40 and over. That’s just mean. But the message should be sent that for the sake of this company, younger talents need to start being put over by older talent, while said older talent would be on their way out of the company in the next year or two.

It’s harsh, but necessary for survival.

The talents below, while legendary, and I have all the respect in the world for all of them (yes, even Jericho), need to start transitioning into mentor roles that will put over younger talent by the end of the year, in my opinion. Or at the least — serve in the undercard of the show.

-Chris Jericho
-Adam Copeland
-Christian Cage
-Samoa Joe
-Bobby Lashley
-Shelton Benjamin
*note: I will discuss The Hurt Syndicate later, as they are doing amazing work right now

-Brian Cage
-Claudio Castagnoli
-Eddie Kingston
-Lance Archer
-Johnny TV
-Roderick Strong
-The Butcher
-The Blade

Note: This rule does not apply to managers/staff/trainers

Exceptions

You will have a few exceptions, and even Paul Heyman alluded to this. These are guys that are the spiritual backbone of the company, and should be around in one form or another. This includes:

-Kenny Omega (41-years-old)
-The Young Bucks (39-years-old)
-Orange Cassidy (40-years-old)
-Jon Moxley (will be 40 soon)
-The Hurt Syndicate (This is a fans’ choice. When you’re that over, there’s not much you can do here.)

That’s it. And again, this isn’t to be ageist, but if a fan turns on AEW as a sports-based promotion, they need to see a select group of young, sexy, talented studs and dames. It is what it is. You could apply this logic to the women’s roster as well, but the only talent I found over 40 is Taya Valkyrie.

Everyone else on this list needs to be on their way out after their contract expires and work with the younger talent to build the future.

Perception is everything — and youth is in itself, a perception.

Luckily, AEW’s top stars are actually quite young, and TK needs to continue pushing his younger stars to the moon. I do wonder why Samoa Joe and Jon Moxley was booked for the May 14th Dynamite and not Double or Nothing. It makes me wonder if we might get a situation where the winner of the Owen Hart Tournament can “cash-in” their title shot early…

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Why This Is So Important Now

While WWE is still comfortably on top of the wrestling world, most, if not all fans can agree with one statement: WWE’s product is cooling off a little.

(Some fans are also not too pleased at how TKO is running the company, especially when it comes to ticket prices.) 

And this is normal. It happens to all brands, much like AEW cooled off from late 2023 through 2024. Wrestling promotions go through cycles of creativity. To connect the dots, AEW’s time to strike is now.

John Cena, Randy Orton, C.M. Punk, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre , Jey Uso — all future Hall-of-Famers, no doubt. But also, they are all no spring chickens, with the youngest out of the group being Seth Rollins at 38. Even GUNTHER sits at 37-years-old.

In other words: The WWE Main Event scene is aging.

If you take a look at the most recent episode of Smackdown, the majority of talent on that show is aged 40 and up.

(Not that it’s an indicator of quality — I watched that TLC match last week, and it deserved the 5 stars Meltzer gave it.)

And before you rebut — I know that humankind is finding ways to prevent aging, so to speak. Hell, I’m middle-aged, but with my diet and exercise routine, you wouldn’t know it. And many talents in their 40s on both rosters are in 10x better shape than I’ll ever be. But “looking” young and being healthy doesn’t automatically mean the body isn’t tired. 

Bones age. Cartilage wears. Muscles weaken. It’s called aging. And if you’re over 40 in this industry, your chance of injury just statistically goes up.

Currently: A portion AEW’s Main Event scene is all below the ages of 35. But only a portion. 

Furthermore, as mentioned, WWE is cooling off a bit. WrestleMania didn’t even crack the Top 10 for Netflix, and viewership for Raw on Netflix continues to steadily drop. WWE is still in great shape, but there’s no time like the present to speed up the momentum of your youth.

In the Future: WWE’s younger talents will catch up and join the main event. Over in Stamford, this seems to already be the case with the recent pushes of Dominik Mysterio (28), Bron Breakker (27), Giulia (31) and Stephanie Vaquer (32). However, these aren’t talents booked in the main event picture — yet. And for AEW to stay competitive, they need to continue to push youth down the card and not just in the main event.

For AEW to find longevity and success, they need to get their younger stars in the main event picture, ASAP. Because 46-year-old Samoa Joe and 39-year-old Jon Moxley should not be a world championship match for a competitor brand. Personally, I absolutely love Samoa Joe. I respect Moxley. But this is your company’s future we’re talking about.

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Let the Young Guns Lead the Way

But all in all, Tony Khan seems to be headed in the direction of building youth up and down the card. Aside from the controversial (and mostly bad) Death Riders story, this is already the case in AEW. And with the recent improvements in booking in 2025, this could become one of AEW’s best year’s yet. It seems as if Khan has learned from his past mistakes, found AEW’s identity, and is taking the best of wrestling history (including Heyman’s booking style) and making it better.

No show is perfect. The main event picture still needs to be addressed sooner than later. The Trios Championships need to likely go away (something I’ll get to next time), and some old veterans do need to keep their distance until retirement (I’m looking at you, Jericho). But for the most part, this promotion has been delivering great content all year.

It’s not about “restoring the feeling”. Who cares? Just book great wrestling, and it will come in due time.

It’s controversial of me to say this — but Khan is booking AEW like Paul Heyman — but better. He’s taken the best of all worlds, and has made it work as a true alternative that fans are latching on to. Ticket sales are up — venues are filled — Max viewership is up — AEW has momentum right now.

Keep it up, Tony. This is always what AEW fans wanted.

-TKW
mocwrestling@yahoo.com