Nick Khan: It would be crazy to run political angle with ICE arresting WWE talent
Don’t expect to see WWE try to mirror real-life political issues on Raw or SmackDown any time soon.
Company president Nick Khan told The Bill Simmons Podcast that, with the political environment being what it is, it would be “too tough” to run politically charged angles like having ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) referenced on WWE programming. Khan mentioned that NXT tried to do a politically correct angle with Joe Gacy a few years ago, but it did not work.
- Simmons: Would you ever consider doing the 80s thing, using WWE to mirror things that are going on in real life, like some of the political stuff? That seems like that ship sailed 20 years ago?
- Khan: Too tough. It’s too tough with the political environment now. Like to have ICE officers arresting like Dragon Lee…
- Simmons: You could never do any of that stuff. That would be crazy. Yeah, that would be awful.
- Khan: You couldn’t do it, yeah.
- Simmons: But could you do like, I don’t know, somebody like a super left liberal wrestler as a heel, who’s just like constantly correcting everybody? Or do like a super MAGA? Like, you just would stay away completely from all that stuff?
- Khan: We did it for a moment in time in NXT when we were coming out of COVID. The guy who’s in the Wyatt Sicks now, Joe Gacy, before he would, let’s say, body slam you, he would apologize that he had to.
- Simmons: That didn’t work? [laughs]
- Khan: No, it didn’t work. But he was like, ‘I’m very sorry that I have to wrestle you.’
- Simmons: So like a politically correct angle?
- Khan: Right. For everything, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’
The Gacy angle took place when he was the leader of The Schism in NXT. He’s now part of the SmackDown roster, with tonight’s pre-WrestleMania episode of the show set to feature an eight-man street fight between The Wyatt Sicks and MFTs.
When asked about himself potentially becoming a character on WWE television, Khan said it will “never, ever, ever” happen. Khan is solely a behind-the-scenes person.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.