Tony Khan addresses Ronda Rousey-AEW relationship
Tony Khan had high praise for Ronda Rousey after her AEW Revolution appearance and addressed the possibility of her signing with the promotion.
Sunday night’s pay-per-view saw Rousey make a surprise arrival after Marina Shafir lost to “Timeless” Toni Storm. When asked about how the appearance came about at the post-show press conference, Khan cited Rousey’s friend Shafir as being key to making it happen.
“Well, Ronda is a really good friend of Marina Shafir, and Marina brought her in as backup,” Khan said. “Everyone was banned from ringside, so that match was a great wrestling match. I thought Toni and Marina Shafir was a great wrestling match. [Shafir and Storm are] going to have a no holds barred fight on Wednesday night, and I’m looking forward to that.”
While further addressing Rousey’s AEW status, Khan expressed that she’s welcome any time she wants, referencing the one match she worked for ROH in 2023.
“Ronda’s actually wrestled for me before, but never in AEW. Ronda wrestled in ROH,” Khan noted. “We had a great match a few years ago, also here in Los Angeles, it was Ronda and Marina teaming up in ROH against Billie Starkz and the World Champion Athena. I thought it was fantastic. I love that match.
“And when Marina said Ronda was going to be her backup, it was like, ‘Okay, well, everyone’s banned from ringside.’ But once the match was over, Ronda did get involved, she made her presence known, and then Marina really took advantage of the situation, landed a sucker punch on Toni Storm while everybody was very mesmerized that Ronda Rousey was in the house.
“Ronda Rousey is a huge star. So, we have a great relationship with her. She’s wrestled for me before in ROH and she’s always welcome here in AEW anytime.”
At the PPV, Storm defeated Shafir before Rousey showed up to assist her ally. She called out Storm, which led to referees having to break up a confrontation between the two. Shafir then sucker-punched Storm while she was distracted.
“Getting a front row seat to watching this woman shine as her most authentic self brought me so much joy – I’m sorry I couldn’t keep it together better and resist grinning ear to ear all night but I couldn’t be more proud watching @marinashafir’s growth and determination on full display,” Rousey posted on Instagram.
“Thank you @aew and @tonyrkhan for letting me steal the best seat in the house.”
Rousey made her pro wrestling in-ring debut for WWE in 2018 and had two separate runs before wrapping up with the promotion in 2023. This May, she returns to her MMA roots in a highly anticipated clash against Gina Carano that will stream live on Netflix from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
Rosanne Raphael is a wrestling writer with over three and a half years of experience covering all things related to the industry. From a kindergarten teacher to PR Associate to turning her lifelong passion for the industry into a career, Rosanne is currently writing for F4W Online where she focuses on wrestling news, analysis, and storytelling.
Rosanne previously contributed to Sportskeeda as an Assistant Content Manager.
When not consumed by wrestling, Rosanne is a musician and an aspiring artist.