• JBL Defends Tony Khan After Recent Controversial Statement
AEW President Tony Khan recently appeared on Jeff Jarrett’s My World podcast. During the interview, he was asked to name who he believes is AEW’s equivalent of Harley Race.
Here’s what he replied:
“It is Jon Moxley. He’s won the most championships; he’s traveled the world; he’s a hardened veteran. He’s from the Midwest. And he’s a straight shooter and he’s a great person who’s respected by his peers, who takes no gruff, and is so respected as a pro wrestling veteran.
Many times in Jon Moxley’s matches, I’ve observed, it was like watching a great Harley Race match, or even some of Harley Race’s great matches in Japan remind me of some of the great Jon Moxley matches.
There’s a lot of great influences and great wrestlers that contribute to what Jon Moxley is, but he’s also an incredible, very unique personality in the world of pro wrestling. I think it’s really cool that he draws comparisons to such a great champion like Harley Race.”
Former AEW/WWE and current TNA producer Ace Steel didn’t agree with Khan’s comments. He took to his Instagram story to harshly criticize the comparison. He wrote:
“Count this as one the dumbest and most blasphemous things I’ve ever read.. utter crap..really infuriating.. zero comparison”
JBL defended Khan’s comments and said the following on Something To Wrestle:
“You ask him a question. What’s he going to say? He’s got to give you an answer, and he’s got to give you an answer out of somebody on his roster. So what’s he going to do? He’s going to put over one of his boys. So I have no issue with it.
I don’t see the association that close of Harley Race and Jon Moxley is a great talent. Harley is one of these legendary guys.
But I think when you take the context of what it was said, you ask him a question, he had to answer it with somebody from his roster, and he gave you an answer putting over one of his boys.”
