WWE legend blames Tony Khan after surprising details about top AEW stars’ contract come to light
A former WWE veteran has just criticized Tony Khan after reacting to the booking arrangements and salaries of certain top AEW stars that came to light recently. This would be the Dutch Mantell talking about The Young Bucks.
During a recent edition of Story Time with Dutch Mantell, Mantell's co-host brought up the current arrangements for the EVPs within the company. He reported that their contracts were on an appearance basis and that they would only come in should they be needed. With this arrangement, they were reportedly earning north of a million dollars each, and have only competed in 18 matches this year.
Dutch Mantell reacted to this and mentioned how Tony Khan should be blamed for this egregious arrangement. They compared both to the likes of Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns who have had similar part-time arrangements, but mentioned how The Bucks were not nearly big enough draws compared to them.
"Well, The Young Bucks might think they're getting paid properly because you want as much money as you can get, I don't blame them. The blame here lies with Tony Khan. He signed the deal, it's his money, he's paying them. Would you pay them that much money for a limited dates? [3:26-3:45]
The veteran then talked about how Khan should instead be worrying about how to generate more money instead of mismanaging his finances, as he believed that anyone who was offered an arrangement like such would surely take it.
"I say fine. If they can do it. If somebody's willing to offer you the money, it's not even a 'Hmm... should I take it?' No, they're gonna take it. I don't blame them (Young Bucks). The only one to blame here is Tony Khan. So he's trying to get that TV deal and worrying about that but he just throws good money after bad. I want him to stay in business, I want these guys have a place to go, I want them to make good money, of course, I do. But, the money management is mismanaged." [4:35-5:17]
Tony Khan recently talked about the betrayal of The Young Bucks
During his recent appearance on Barstool Rasslin's YouTube Channel, he addressed how The Young Bucks took over the company at his expense.
He mentioned how he was looking forward to working with them, as they had brought Jack Perry back to the company, but did not expect to be a victim of their ploy.
"I was really excited to reinstate Jack Perry into AEW several months ago, and it was the night before the NFL Draft when we brought Jack back into AEW, and I was really upset and, of course, hurt literally after that when Jack Perry and The Young Bucks tried a hostile takeover of AEW, and Jack Perry since then has become the TNT Champion, and Jack Perry and The Young Bucks have been a big part of the show," he said. [18:39-19:12]
Now on screen, both sides are on opposite ends, with Khan serving as part of the resistance against The Elite. But off-screen, both parties seem to be closely working with each other, as The Bucks remain major players within the company.