Tony Khan has some good reasoning for why no Canadian talents were featured in the Owen Hart Cup this year.
All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan took part in a Media Scrum for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door this week to answer a wide variety of questions. When asked about his decision not to include any Canadian talent in the Owen Hart Cup this year, Khan chalked it up to availability and wanting to create the strongest field possible this year.
“Well, I wanted to give the strongest field possible, and I felt like we put together a really, really strong field with some of the top stars in AEW and some great names,” Tony Khan said. “And this is something we’re going to be doing year after year, the Owen Hart Tournament, and I tried to pick the best eight wrestlers that we could on each side that were available on all the dates and to create the most compelling matchups for TV and pay-per-view.
“And as you said, I think the bracket was well received, and people are really excited about the matchups. I just tried to use the best people from the roster available for those dates that I thought would make for the best matchups. I think there are a lot of exciting matchups in there and with the event in Canada this year.
“Hopefully, in future years, we’ll be able to continue having more and more AEW events in Canada, including hopefully future Owen Hart Tournaments. There are great opportunities for more and more Canadian stars to get involved in these events too. And as it stands right now, there’s great international representation in the tournament. And I think both the men’s tournament in the women’s tournament are going to be excellent events.
“I’m very excited for them, culminating in Calgary and, of course, both tournaments kicking off this week with the women’s tournament opening up in Chicago with Skye Blue in her hometown taken on energy tomorrow night on Friday night Rampage and then the tournament continuing through the weekend into Canada. The men’s tournament starting in Canada with the very highly anticipated Punk versus Kojima match, which is another match I have always wanted to see. I’m very much looking forward to this Sunday on pay-per-view.”
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What do you make of Tony Khan’s comments? Are there any Canadian talents in All Elite Wrestling that you would have put in the Owen Hart Cup this year? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door Media Scrum with a link back to this article for the transcription.
