Freddie Prinze Jr. Addresses Tony Khan's Saudi Arabia Shot At WWE
AEW CEO Tony Khan's remarks last week that denigrated WWE's upcoming Crown Jewel event as "some BS overseas in Saudi Arabia" received a smackdown from Freddie Prinze Jr. on his latest "Wrestling with Freddie" podcast.
While sharing kinship with Khan by referring to the upcoming WWE event as "a silly pay-per-view," Prinze nonetheless felt the AEW chieftain went out of bounds with his insulting talk.
"Tony, you ain't got to do that," said Prinze, a former WWE creative writer. "You don't have to dump on the Crown Jewel. Everyone on Earth knows it's horses**t. Everyone on Earth knows it's just a payday for WWE."
Prinze recommended that Khan not let his emotions steer his actions, observing how he "takes things very personally" and complains that he feels he is under attack.
"Tony, you are the man," Prinze said. "You have your first million-dollar gate — Arthur Ashe Stadium, huge frigging show. I know you lost a couple wrestlers, but they were wrestlers that you weren't doing anything with any way. You're the man. Don't trip on what WWE is doing right now, don't take it personally."
Prinze believes Khan's concern about WWE was trying to chip away at his business needs to be balanced with the reality that AEW is trying to spear forkfuls of WWE's lunch.
"You guys are competing in the same marketplace," Prinze said. "It's like two action movies opening on the same weekend. You don't need to be insecure by these guys. You're a young company. You're growing exponentially. You're growing quickly. And you're starting to put on shows that people are respecting on both sides of the fence. Take confidence in that. Take confidence in the accomplishments and stop worrying about what they're doing."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Wrestling with Freddie" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.