Tony Khan abruptly canceled plans for major star before AEW exit: "That broke me"
A former AEW star revealed how the company's President, Tony Khan, canceled plans for a major match before her exit. The star also admitted how she was disheartened about the same.
Tony Khan canceled a big plan for Leyla Hirsch before her eventual AEW exit. The 28-year-old star was with the Jacksonville-based promotion since 2020 before her exit a few months back. Leyla wrestled her last match at the ROH Final Battle pay-per-view in December 2024 against Red Velvet.
Speaking on the Soul Sessions podcast recently, Leyla Hirsch revealed how she pitched the idea about her feud with Red Velvet to Tony Khan last year, and he loved it:
“When we found out we were going to wrestle at Final Battle, it was a huge thing. We wanted to come up with a story to make it mean more. I feel with Ring of Honor stories, there was never thought put into it with a lot of us. Me and Red came up with a storyline that we thought would be great. We pitched it to Tony [Khan] and two other people that were in the ring and they absolutely loved it. I got my excitement back. On my part, I made sure every week it was going to happen."
Hirsch further disclosed how she was disappointed to find out that she would not be wrestling at Full Gear 2024:
"‘Is it going to happen? We’re going to do this?’ ‘Yup.’ Long story short, I think the pay-per-view was Full Gear, it was going to be in New Jersey, my hometown, and one of the ideas was that we would wrestle. I was supposed to wrestle with her on that show. It was a go and I was going to have so many people come. One week before, I found out it wasn’t happening. That broke me." [H/T ewrestlingnews]
Former AEW star reveals how Tony Khan's promotion didn't invest in her
Former AEW star Leyla Hirsch also opened up on how she wanted ROH to succeed, but Tony Khan's promotion didn't invest in her:
"I want the fans to know that I tried in Ring of Honor to make it mean something. At a point where you try, try, and try and you invest and you’re not getting that back, that’s when I have to take the step back and be like, ‘If they’re not going to invest in me, it’s going to be detrimental to my career.’" [H/T ewrestlingnews]
Only time will tell what the future has in store for Leyla Hirsch now that she has left AEW.