Tony Khan kept major contract news a secret in order to celebrate AEW Dynamite 200 - Reports
The 200th episode of AEW Dynamite is officially in the books, and it certainly had a lot of memorable moments, but one major announcement that was made on the day was forced into secrecy by Tony Khan.
The announcement in question was the blockbuster news that Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, and The Young Bucks had all put pen to paper on brand new multi-year deals with AEW.
Their contract news had been the subject of much discussion in recent months as some people believed that The Elite would join Cody Rhodes in WWE after the negotiations with Tony Khan were taking longer than expected.
The ELITE are here to stay! 🎉
#AEWFightForever pic.twitter.com/CI0fZX46oQ
On the most recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer stated that he believes The Elite's new contracts were actually signed a few weeks ago, but given that AEW was going to air its 200th episode of Dynamite on August 2nd, Tony Khan wanted to wait until the landmark day to reveal the news.
“To get them to sign this early, because obviously they were willing to play both sides against each other, that was the deal, so [Tony Khan] had to put up a great offer to get this thing signed now. They actually made the deal—I would guess it was a couple of weeks ago, I don’t know the date, but I do know the deal was already made and [Tony Khan] told [The Elite] to keep quiet on it because he wanted to announce it on August 2nd in conjunction with the 200th episode of Dynamite.” [7:49-8:18]
The Elite joins the likes of Rush and The Dark Order, who have all recently signed brand-new deals with All Elite Wrestling.
The Elite were also in action on AEW Dynamite 200
Given that the 'E' in AEW stands for Elite, it wouldn't be right if Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, and Hangman Page were left off the 200th edition of Dynamite, and they certainly weren't.
Omega and the Bucks took on the team of Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett, and Satnam Singh in a fast-paced, hard-hitting trio match that also saw cameos from Hangman Page, Brandon Cutler, Sonjay Dutt, and Karen Jarrett.
This Wednesday, 8/2
#AEWDynamite 200
Tampa, FL
Live on TBS, 8pm ET/7pm CT
@KennyOmegamanX/@youngbucks
vs
@RealJeffJarrett/@TheLethalJay/@hellosatnam
3 @AEW originals, #TheElite Kenny Omega & Young Bucks battle the rule-bending trio Jarrett, Lethal, & Satnam at Dynamite 200! pic.twitter.com/W0T0EMhk37
In the end, it was Omega who got the pin for his team, hitting Jay Lethal with the 'One-Winged Angel.' After the match, Hangman cut a scathing promo where he told the fans that The Elite was here to stay before Kenny took the microphone and said that the fans would be seeing the group on all of AEW's programming.
Are you happy that The Elite is staying with AEW? Let us know in the comments section below!
Please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling when using quotes from this article.