Tony Khan puts rivalry with WWE aside and gives his honest opinion of Vince McMahon

AEW President Tony Khan has let his guard down and given his honest opinion on former WWE CEO Vince McMahon.

McMahon shockingly announced his retirement from the Stamford-based promotion on July 22. Since his departure, Nick Khan and Stephanie McMahon have taken over the company as co-CEOs. Meanwhile, Triple H has taken charge of the creative team.

Despite being the president of WWE's biggest rival, AEW, Tony Khan praised McMahon's contributions to the wrestling industry on the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.

"He grew the wrestling business on television more than anybody else ever has and the growth that he [Vince McMahon] helped launch in this business as a television industry is probably more than everybody else in the history of the wrestling business combined."

At 77, time for me to retire.
Thank you, WWE Universe.
Then. Now. Forever. Together. #WWE #thankful

Khan even cited McMahon as one of the most influential men in all of American entertainment.

"I don’t think I’d be understating it to say that he was one of — has been one of the most influential figures in American entertainment and whether you consider wrestling a sport or not, I think in the world of sports, he’s also been one of the most influential people. Ask any athlete on the planet and they all are very familiar with his product." (H/T POSTWrestling).

Tony Khan's seemingly cheeky response to Vince McMahon's retirement

Upon hearing the news of McMahon's retirement, Khan took to Twitter to promote the July 22 episode of Rampage while mentioning that he is now the longest serving CEO in wrestling.

Thanks to you wrestling fans and your great support of @AEW, I'm grateful to now be the longest-tenured CEO in pro wrestling," said @TonyKhan.

Tony Khan reacts to Vince McMahon's retirement 👀
#AEW #WWE #VinceMcMahon #TonyKhan https://t.co/8jclunSjTs

While the joke was most certainly delivered tongue-in-cheek, it did annoy a small portion of wrestling fans. However, there was likely no malice intended when Khan wrote the tweet.

What do you think the future holds for AEW now that McMahon is retired? Let us know in the comments section down below.