Tony Khan Cannot Understate How Important It Was To Grow AEW’s Roster In 2021

President of AEW, Tony Khan, has had a lot to say over this astounding year in professional wrestling. AEW has made leaps and bounds in the last twelve months, specifically because of some massive debuts – wrestlers that jumped ship from WWE. He spoke recently about the most recent acquisition, Kyle O’Reilly, and what his joining the company means.

The company was already quite the standout when it started back in 2019. Many stars and AEW originals, we can call them, started the proceedings and certainly got the ball rolling. Not only that, they made it a viable option for other pro wrestlers out there to choose when frustrated with what was at one time the monopoly in pro wrestling…WWE.

Tony Khan spoke with PW Insider, and while he did, he went into just how important these aforementioned debuts have been for AEW overall.

“I can’t overstate how important it was to expand the roster this year. At the beginning of the year, I promised things were going to change in wrestling. There would be huge acquisitions and we delivered on that.

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And the biggest free agent names in wrestling this year came to AEW when CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, Ruby Soho, Thunder Rosa, Andrade el Idolo, Malakai Black, and many other big-name free agents joined AEW this year. And I’m really excited about the changes to our roster. I think the new people have stepped in at the perfect time for us.”

On the most recent debut – O’Reilly – Khan spoke about how integral that debut will turn out to be. The re-uniting of these three men (O’Reilly, Cole, Fish) who enjoyed quite the run in NXT as Undisputed Era, and before that in ROH, are definitely quite the force, or rather present quite the force in the current roster.

“I’m very excited about Kyle joining AEW. I’m excited that Kyle debuts this week on Dynamite. It’s a huge match, Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly debuting as a trio in AEW against another one of the top trios in AEW, Orange Cassidy, Trent, and Chuck the best friends. It’s also something that I had no idea would be possible at the start of the year.

It is absolutely a dream come true to reunite Cole, Fish and O’Reilly in AEW and I think it’s very fitting that they debut as a trio, and that Kyle O’Reilly makes his AEW debut, period, in Daily’s Place this week, on the last show of the year.

Daily’s Place, this will be a really special moment when we see Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’ Reilly, and a number of the other three agents who joined AEW recently like CM Punk, and Bryan Danielson, and Ruby Soho, and many others making their first appearance in Daily’s Place.”

Perhaps now, people who had heavily criticized Adam Cole’s role in AEW in recent weeks, now see that the vision for his character and those around him, was being planned all along…and the rift that O’Reilly’s debut has caused in storyline between Cole and The Bucks shows just how much TV time and attention Adam Cole and troop are likely to get. How’s that for not being lost in the shuffle?

H/T PW Insider