Tony Khan may have botched former WWE Champion's return by turning him heel, says Konnan
Tony Khan has one of the biggest challenges in the industry today as his promotion, AEW, is considered a direct competitor to WWE. Despite this, his decisions face a lot of criticism, and recently WCW veteran Konnan questioned why he turned Bryan Danielson heel.
The American Dragon had a well-received feud with MJF wherein he was the babyface and even cut a heartfelt promo after losing to the AEW World Champion. Fans naturally believed that Tony Khan would position the veteran for a major babyface run, but it seems like he had a different plan in mind.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Keepin' It 100 podcast, Konnan claimed that he would've brought Danielson back as a heel but seemed to believe that Tony Khan could be building up to another match between The American Dragon and Kenny Omega.
"I thought it was a good chance to bring back Danielson as a face, I don’t know why they did that turn – the match will be incredible. Maybe they just did the turn to get a great match against two of the greatest wrestlers of the last ten years, but I would have had him team up with Kenny [Omega] but maybe Kenny’s gonna team up with the Young Bucks, I don’t know." (11:24 onward).
Bryan Danielson returns and turns heel on Kenny Omega!!!!
And with that, the Blackpool Combat Club heel turn is complete.
#AEWDynamite twitter.com/i/web/status/1… https://t.co/rh3pOKE1mK
Jim Cornette recently pointed out some issues with The Blackpool Combat Club and seemed to suggest that Jon Moxley could be taking the spotlight away from Claudio Castagnoli.
Missed out on last week's AEW Rampage? Catch up with the results right here.
Disco Inferno also questioned why Tony Khan seems to be booking another storyline with The Elite
According to the Young Bucks themselves, Matt and Nick Jackson contemplated retirement after the controversial Brawl Out Incident. Since their return, Tony Khan has booked the duo consistently, and this could potentially be why.
Young Bucks swore that they contemplated retiring after the events of All Out last year.
THANK CHRIST we have them back again. https://t.co/p9iln5RT4j
During the same episode, Disco Inferno also pointed out that the setup for this feud seems too familiar to some of the other angles that The Elite has been involved in before.
"It’s like they’re just setting this up for like an eight on eight, and I’m just like bro, there’s way more storytelling you could do if these guys were doing singles competition against each other – I don’t know. It seems like it’s just a way to throw the match together and like “The Elite versus those guys.” The storytelling here is just we’re gonna attack them and then we’re gonna have a match, like every other angle they do on the show." (11:58 onward).
While it's unclear what Tony Khan must do to appease all the All Elite Wrestling viewers, he continues to receive criticism and will likely continue doing so for as long as AEW competes with WWE.
If you use quotes from this article, please credit Keepin' It 100 and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.