This Is How Tony Khan Learned Pro Wrestling Is Not Real

AEW CEO Tony Khan recently spoke with "The Ringer" about his love of pro wrestling and how it started. Khan was 7 years old when he began his wrestling journey,  by watching syndicated weekend programs, "Superstars" and "Wrestling Challenge." A few years later, at the age of 12, Khan learned pretty quickly from the internet how scripted pro wrestling really was.

"I'd learned a lot about wrestling every year and soaked up as much information about wrestling as I could from 1990 to 1994, and then the motherload hit when I started using dial-up services," stated Khan. "I would get on the web in '94 and '95. I was definitely 12 when I got on Yahoo or Lycos and typed in 'Is wrestling real?' This thing came up pretty quickly on the rec. sport.pro-wrestling frequently-asked-questions page.

"'It was this incredible treasure trove. Even then, a lot of it was pretty accurate as to how things are put together, who was in charge of what shows back then, what the wrestling companies were, who ran them, how they ran them, and how shows and matches got put together. I also got all these facts and real names, and a lot of history of incidents that happened in the business. It was all compiled under the frequently asked questions that I'd read many times and very quickly learned."

In February 2020, Khan shared his Wrestling Mt. Rushmore, which included ROH World Champion Chris Jericho and WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair, Bret Hart, and Steve Austin. A year later, in May, Khan shared his two favorite wrestling matches of all time were Kenny Omega vs. 'Hangman' Adam Page vs. The Young Bucks at AEW Revolution 2020 and Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania III.