Pakistani? c lol. His father is Pakistani, and he has been in the country since 1967. Tony has an American mother, and was born in Illinois. TK certainly doesn't evoke images of a migrant's journey or the struggle of being a minority either.

This is carny bullshit, where an inexperienced leader mouthed off on twitter and smuggly threw the street fight comment in their to stir up some more shit. Then he reminded everyone how he has some black friends to save face, because he's a tone deaf dweeb.

He’s done this before with Ngakoue, with Carragher, the dog wanking thing. My take is when you’re born the son of a billionaire you have thin skin and you’re not going to be a normal person. He’s unprofessional in how he presents himself publicly. Big Swole sucks, but she’s not alone in sucking and AEW doesn’t have great diversity, particularly when it comes to black wrestlers at the top of the card. You look at guys like Hobbs and Starks, why are they not pushed? Not pillars of the company? Are they worse than Guevara or Perry? I think she has a point but she’s the worst person to make it because she can’t work.

Jan 1, 2022 6:14:34 GMT Big Pete said:

Jan 1, 2022 6:06:38 GMT c said:

Half of the signed girls are not white. Latinos on TV weekly for the men. Sure they may not be booked good, but the issue she is claiming is they lack minorities which is not entirely true.

Lack of minorities at the top of the card, which is why she brought up Big E and Bianca Belair.

Shida held the women's belt.  Lucha Bros are tag champs.  Thunder went to the semi-finals of the women's tournament and feuded with Baker.  Former LAX guys were in the main event quite a bit early on.  

Keith Lee's has 30 days left until he can debut.

And again, you do not get much higher than Tony in the company and he is out there after the main event every night.

Jan 1, 2022 7:39:15 GMT NATH45 said:

Pakistani? c lol. His father is Pakistani, and he has been in the country since 1967. Tony has an American mother, and was born in Illinois. TK certainly doesn't evoke images of a migrant's journey or the struggle of being a minority either.

This is carny bullshit, where an inexperienced leader mouthed off on twitter and smuggly threw the street fight comment in their to stir up some more shit. Then he reminded everyone how he has some black friends to save face, because he's a tone deaf dweeb.

How many generations are most African Americans away from Africa?  He is half middle eastern or mixed race, which are still a minority for a few more years at least. 


And yeah it is carny bullshit he will pay for dearly.  Did he even delete the tweet yet?

Jan 1, 2022 8:45:26 GMT Todd said:

He’s done this before with Ngakoue, with Carragher, the dog wanking thing. My take is when you’re born the son of a billionaire you have thin skin and you’re not going to be a normal person. He’s unprofessional in how he presents himself publicly. Big Swole sucks, but she’s not alone in sucking and AEW doesn’t have great diversity, particularly when it comes to black wrestlers at the top of the card. You look at guys like Hobbs and Starks, why are they not pushed? Not pillars of the company? Are they worse than Guevara or Perry? I think she has a point but she’s the worst person to make it because she can’t work.

For real, how hard would it be to give Hobbs a shot at the title.  Dude dominates almost every match he is in.  He should be a threat to the title at all times, not on the b-shows.  

Jan 1, 2022 9:22:35 GMT c said:

Jan 1, 2022 6:14:34 GMT Big Pete said:

Lack of minorities at the top of the card, which is why she brought up Big E and Bianca Belair.

Shida held the women's belt.  Lucha Bros are tag champs.  Thunder went to the semi-finals of the women's tournament and feuded with Baker.  Former LAX guys were in the main event quite a bit early on.  

Keith Lee's has 30 days left until he can debut.

And again, you do not get much higher than Tony in the company and he is out there after the main event every night.

How many shows did Shida main event? How often have the Lucha Bros. been pushed as main event calibre? Do you want to repeat that Thunder comment again? Like how is what you said about her or LAX meant to help support this vision of AEW as this diverse company that pushes minorities to the top?

Swole has a point.

Jan 1, 2022 9:24:55 GMT c said:

Jan 1, 2022 7:39:15 GMT NATH45 said:

Pakistani? c lol. His father is Pakistani, and he has been in the country since 1967. Tony has an American mother, and was born in Illinois. TK certainly doesn't evoke images of a migrant's journey or the struggle of being a minority either.

This is carny bullshit, where an inexperienced leader mouthed off on twitter and smuggly threw the street fight comment in their to stir up some more shit. Then he reminded everyone how he has some black friends to save face, because he's a tone deaf dweeb.

How many generations are most African Americans away from Africa?  He is half middle eastern or mixed race, which are still a minority for a few more years at least. 


And yeah it is carny bullshit he will pay for dearly.  Did he even delete the tweet yet?

Pakistan is in South Asia. Not the Middle East.

No, despite almost every response telling him politely, that he needs to.

Oh, between lines Adderall, he babbled this at the post-Revolution media scrum, it certainly proves he's full of shit

“Swole’s a great wrestler, she’s got a great personality. I think, in the ring, she’s gotten better and she can continue to get better, she had risen up, she had a great record in 2020 and reached the top contender at one point. She got a title shot, she didn’t beat Shida, but she had a great match and she’s had a lot of great matches, I really like Swole."

Jan 1, 2022 9:22:35 GMT c said:

Jan 1, 2022 6:14:34 GMT Big Pete said:

Lack of minorities at the top of the card, which is why she brought up Big E and Bianca Belair.

Shida held the women's belt.  Lucha Bros are tag champs.  Thunder went to the semi-finals of the women's tournament and feuded with Baker.  Former LAX guys were in the main event quite a bit early on.  

Keith Lee's has 30 days left until he can debut.

And again, you do not get much higher than Tony in the company and he is out there after the main event every night.

The embodiment of white privilege, Cody Rhodes literally beat up a black, blind immigrant in the name of " USA! USA! " and just recently beat up a skinny Mexican kid because he could, only a few weeks after trying to set another Mexican on fire.

Jan 1, 2022 9:34:01 GMT Big Pete said:

Jan 1, 2022 9:22:35 GMT c said:

Shida held the women's belt.  Lucha Bros are tag champs.  Thunder went to the semi-finals of the women's tournament and feuded with Baker.  Former LAX guys were in the main event quite a bit early on.  

Keith Lee's has 30 days left until he can debut.

And again, you do not get much higher than Tony in the company and he is out there after the main event every night.

How many shows did Shida main event? How often have the Lucha Bros. been pushed as main event calibre? Do you want to repeat that Thunder comment again? Like how is what you said about her or LAX meant to help support this vision of AEW as this diverse company that pushes minorities to the top?

Swole has a point.

If swoles point is " lack of minorities at the top " isn't khan dpong what he can to fix that? He is literally creating a top star from nothing in Jade Cargill.

When AEW started there was plenty of discussion about who was available to pursue to sign (not signed elsewhere). There wasnt and still isnt top names available.

What more would you like Khan do tp present black wrestlers better?

Scorpio Sky was the first tag champ with an aging partner when there was more deserving teams. And now he is being presented alongside a high profile celebrity in a major story.

Hobbs, signed from the indys and being presented as a big deal relative to his experience.

Dante qnd darius marrin signed off the indys off barely more than a recomendation and being pushed and mixing with top guys.

What would you like done different? And with what people? Where are the black wrestlers available for AEW to signas main eventers?

Looking back it’s essentially that both Swole and Tony are right, the main difference being Tony was an asshole about it and could have made his point many different ways where he wouldn’t have started this shit storm.

Post your little list of all the diversity lately, then just say something like “we will continue to try and create a more diverse space! Thank you for your insight and hard work, Swole!”

You know that scene in Big Lebowski where Dude says to Walter “you’re not wrong, Walter. You’re just an asshole.” It’s that.

Jan 1, 2022 15:00:31 GMT RT said:

Looking back it’s essentially that both Swole and Tony are right, the main difference being Tony was an asshole about it and could have made his point many different ways where he wouldn’t have started this shit storm.

Post your little list of all the diversity lately, then just say something like “we will continue to try and create a more diverse space! Thank you for your insight and hard work, Swole!”

You know that scene in Big Lebowski where Dude says to Walter “you’re not wrong, Walter. You’re just an asshole.” It’s that.

It's how he brought it all on twitter and responded to a dirt sheet instead of calling her when he has her number and keeping it private that has irked plenty. No need to dismiss her because she isn't good in the ring(And that goes back to the point of elitism, who cares that you can't wrestle 5 star matches, why is that a must to be employed?), makes him look arrogant and out of touch.

He should have brought up the growing number of POC being shown on his television and that's it. Should have said he's vowed to not have Hulk Hogan or his ex wife on his TV which he's kept. The last sentence in addition to still promoting his show in the same tweet was the worst thing possible that he could have done. Khan has to find someone to type for him on twitter or social media, he gets way too trigger happy and wants to respond to everything under the sun. 

It's not just black athletes not getting featured more on their top shows that was her issue, it was the booking of women for the 3 or so years AEW has been around that got her angry too and she wanted to be among the first to voice her opinion on feeling like they aren't being treated right. She had a trio team with Killyn King & Red Velvet that barely if at all appeared on TV and I even said why aren't they helping Red Velvet out when she got jumped by Britt, Reba & Hayter. I think Swole did a hands up emoji in response to why they didn't have their girls back.

Jan 1, 2022 13:58:28 GMT nazzer said:

Jan 1, 2022 9:34:01 GMT Big Pete said:

How many shows did Shida main event? How often have the Lucha Bros. been pushed as main event calibre? Do you want to repeat that Thunder comment again? Like how is what you said about her or LAX meant to help support this vision of AEW as this diverse company that pushes minorities to the top?

Swole has a point.

If swoles point is " lack of minorities at the top " isn't khan dpong what he can to fix that? He is literally creating a top star from nothing in Jade Cargill.

When AEW started there was plenty of discussion about who was available to pursue to sign (not signed elsewhere). There wasnt and still isnt top names available.

What more would you like Khan do tp present black wrestlers better?

Scorpio Sky was the first tag champ with an aging partner when there was more deserving teams. And now he is being presented alongside a high profile celebrity in a major story.

Hobbs, signed from the indys and being presented as a big deal relative to his experience.

Dante qnd darius marrin signed off the indys off barely more than a recomendation and being pushed and mixing with top guys.

What would you like done different? And with what people? Where are the black wrestlers available for AEW to signas main eventers?

If he was doing what he can we wouldn't be having this conversation. The way the African American talent has been booked has invited these criticisms and the arguments are weak or excuses.

I'd even argue that with talent like Jade Cargill and Scorpio Sky they have to be paired with a 'white' act to make them more palatable for Khan.

What I believe Tony Khan should do is reformat one of his Dark shows to give his talent that's struggling for consistent television time an outlet to build a following and help develop angles that help get them over with the audience. I wouldn't keep a pair of highly promising talents like Private Party locked up with Matt Hardy for over a year and have them do next to nothing. I wouldn't book Scorpio Sky as a disgruntled under-appreciated employee because there wouldn't be any need. I'd also try to hire people outside of the Bucks social circle and hope to god they're minorities so I don't come across as a hypocrite when I virtual signal on twitter.

Are we really using Shida's title reign as an example of AEW being good at pushing minorities when she was barely on tv the majority of the time as champ and given little in the way of concrete storylines or promo time?

Jan 1, 2022 15:19:39 GMT Blindy said:

Jan 1, 2022 15:00:31 GMT RT said:

Looking back it’s essentially that both Swole and Tony are right, the main difference being Tony was an asshole about it and could have made his point many different ways where he wouldn’t have started this shit storm.

Post your little list of all the diversity lately, then just say something like “we will continue to try and create a more diverse space! Thank you for your insight and hard work, Swole!”

You know that scene in Big Lebowski where Dude says to Walter “you’re not wrong, Walter. You’re just an asshole.” It’s that.

It's how he brought it all on twitter and responded to a dirt sheet instead of calling her when he has her number and keeping it private that has irked plenty. No need to dismiss her because she isn't good in the ring(And that goes back to the point of elitism, who cares that you can't wrestle 5 star matches, why is that a must to be employed?), makes him look arrogant and out of touch.

He should have brought up the growing number of POC being shown on his television and that's it. Should have said he's vowed to not have Hulk Hogan or his ex wife on his TV which he's kept. The last sentence in addition to still promoting his show in the same tweet was the worst thing possible that he could have done. Khan has to find someone to type for him on twitter or social media, he gets way too trigger happy and wants to respond to everything under the sun. 

It's not just black athletes not getting featured more on their top shows that was her issue, it was the booking of women for the 3 or so years AEW has been around that got her angry too and she wanted to be among the first to voice her opinion on feeling like they aren't being treated right. She had a trio team with Killyn King & Red Velvet that barely if at all appeared on TV and I even said why aren't they helping Red Velvet out when she got jumped by Britt, Reba & Hayter. I think Swole did a hands up emoji in response to why they didn't have their girls back.

You just quoted me and said everything I said but with more words.
 

I'll never understand the logic behind the women's bookings either. Omega should have been removed from that position a long time ago. He had a bias towards the Joshi women and none of the feuds made any sense. The women's division felt like an afterthought for the first year or so of AEW's existence. It's definitely turned around throughout 2021 and thank god, because it was really bad there for a while.

That being said, Swole wasn't the only person to get lost in the shuffle, and her little trio wasn't the only group AEW threw together then immediately forgot about. That happened at least a few times. She's right to complain but she shouldn't act like it was just her that it happened to.

Tony Khan telling on himself. 

Scrum as a term is still weird af.

Fucks sake, she’s shit. He got rid of her because she’s shit. He’s a clown but is he a racist really? Happy new year

The diversity discussion is very interesting. I'm not sure what more AEW is expected to do, to be honest. It feels like people want AEW to push minority wrestlers for the sake of pushing minority wrestlers, regardless of merit. Like a corporation filling a quota by hiring a certain percentage of minority workers for the sake of it.

In WWE, the likes of Sasha Banks, Bianca Belair, Roman Reigns, Big E and Bobby Lashley have held or are holding top belts in the WWE. Why? Because they're the best at what they do. Just like white wrestlers Brock Lesnar, Drew McIntyre, Becky Lynch et al. are also the best, and that's why they are or were at the top.

Yes, there are more white wrestlers at the top of the AEW men's division, but that's because their biggest stars and best talents happen to be white wrestlers. Most of them were big stars before AEW was even formed. Why is that? Maybe you could point to lack of opportunities for minorities, some kind of systemic issue, and you may be right. I honestly don't know. But I lean towards the side that there isn't an issue.

Let's look at the women's division. Yes, Britt Baker is the undisputed star of the division, but what about the next level down? Thunder Rosa, Nyla Rose, Jade Cargill, Red Velvet, Hikaru Shida are featured just as prominently, if not more so, than the likes of Ruby Soho, Kris Statlander, Anna Jay, Penelope Ford, Serena Deeb. You can point at Kiera Hogan and say she is being underutilised, there's a diversity problem. But maybe Leyla Hirsch is being equally underutilised.

Incidentally, I'm not sure where Tay Conti fits into the picture. She has white skin, but she's Brazilian, so does she count as a minority? I'm not trying to be facetious here, I'm ignorant. I legitimately don't know.

Don't really get the complaint about the Lucha Bros either. Were the Young Bucks main eventing lots of shows when they were champions? As far as I remember they spent a lot of time in the midcard feuding with the likes of Dark Order and Jungle Express. Perhaps they featured more as a consequence of being stablemates with then-AEW World Champion Kenny Omega. Going back to the Lucha Bros, apparently being the tag team champions isn't enough, under someone's definition of "enough". What exactly would be enough? It's not like this is something you can measure. It's down to the satisfaction of certain individuals, like Big Swole.

If Big Swole says there is a diversity problem, does that mean there is a diversity problem? Well, maybe it does. People should certainly listen to her and try to identify any issues. But what if another minority wrestler says there isn't a diversity problem? No idea.

I was shocked how calm Swole release was.

Both made some good points and some stuff that wasn't needed or wrong.

Tony is doing stuff with diverse talent. But when Swole said diverse she meant Black talent. Now she does have a point if you remove all Black wrestlers how much does that change the show. The answer is not much since none have a major role.

Also when people made similar comments about WWE in the past they referred to the world title. So saying some one was a TNT, tag, or soon to be TBS doesn't count.

Tony could have just made a statement like he doesnt book to color just talent. But he mocked her talent which was bad which add more people to her side.

As for booking new talent better the orginal talent. They had to know they were just filler until he got someone better.

I think some player he traded was also upset. Well if you have one of the worst NFL records around for multiple years you need to do something different.

Damn, Tony is doubling down on all of this isn't he?

Jan 1, 2022 19:23:13 GMT Todd said:

Fucks sake, she’s shit. He got rid of her because she’s shit. He’s a clown but is he a racist really? Happy new year

Everyone with this same take is getting buried alive on twitter and wreddit. Wrestling fans seem to have over-corrected from the stereotypical close-minded hillbilly to the super woke "every human group on the planet should be represented at all times" mindset.

It really boils down to Tony's little critical dig at Swole was uncalled for and that's it. But the internet blew it up and now we're here.

This guy makes some good points. Different perspective here:

" Dear Twitter, as I write this, I am very sad. Our president has been overthrown and... REPLACED BY THE BENEVOLENT GENERAL KHAN. ALL HAIL KHAN AND HIS GLORIOUS NEW REGIME. SINCERELY, LITTLE LIO. " 

NATH45 that's a tremendous joke. Well done.

That being said, Lio has walked away from jobs for less. Can't see Tony threatening him to get him to fall in line. I'm glad whatever talks they've had today have been successful and shown progress.

It's entirely possible that two adults had an adult conversation.

Jan 1, 2022 19:42:20 GMT X-zero said:

I think some player he traded was also upset. Well if you have one of the worst NFL records around for multiple years you need to do something different.

The Jaguars are trash now but when they had Ngakoue at that point and time, he was one of the faces of "Sacksonville" which was a quarter away from beating New England to represent the AFC for the Super Bowl vs the Eagles in 2018. Since he, Calais Campbell and Jalen Ramsey got traded, the team has been in the toilet dump however. 

He wanted to get a long term deal instead of the franchise tag, something plenty of players try to do. However, Khan and Co. wanted multiple 1sts at the time so they were hellbent on keeping him until someone overpaid up the ass(Minnesota ended up giving a 2nd and future Day 3 pick.)

It was how he went about going after the player on twitter that woke me up to how much of a dweeb he truly is. 

Jan 1, 2022 19:38:17 GMT Emperor said:

The diversity discussion is very interesting. I'm not sure what more AEW is expected to do, to be honest. It feels like people want AEW to push minority wrestlers for the sake of pushing minority wrestlers, regardless of merit. Like a corporation filling a quota by hiring a certain percentage of minority workers for the sake of it.

In WWE, the likes of Sasha Banks, Bianca Belair, Roman Reigns, Big E and Bobby Lashley have held or are holding top belts in the WWE. Why? Because they're the best at what they do. Just like white wrestlers Brock Lesnar, Drew McIntyre, Becky Lynch et al. are also the best, and that's why they are or were at the top.

Yes, there are more white wrestlers at the top of the AEW men's division, but that's because their biggest stars and best talents happen to be white wrestlers. Most of them were big stars before AEW was even formed. Why is that? Maybe you could point to lack of opportunities for minorities, some kind of systemic issue, and you may be right. I honestly don't know. But I lean towards the side that there isn't an issue.

Let's look at the women's division. Yes, Britt Baker is the undisputed star of the division, but what about the next level down? Thunder Rosa, Nyla Rose, Jade Cargill, Red Velvet, Hikaru Shida are featured just as prominently, if not more so, than the likes of Ruby Soho, Kris Statlander, Anna Jay, Penelope Ford, Serena Deeb. You can point at Kiera Hogan and say she is being underutilised, there's a diversity problem. But maybe Leyla Hirsch is being equally underutilised.

Incidentally, I'm not sure where Tay Conti fits into the picture. She has white skin, but she's Brazilian, so does she count as a minority? I'm not trying to be facetious here, I'm ignorant. I legitimately don't know.

Don't really get the complaint about the Lucha Bros either. Were the Young Bucks main eventing lots of shows when they were champions? As far as I remember they spent a lot of time in the midcard feuding with the likes of Dark Order and Jungle Express. Perhaps they featured more as a consequence of being stablemates with then-AEW World Champion Kenny Omega. Going back to the Lucha Bros, apparently being the tag team champions isn't enough, under someone's definition of "enough". What exactly would be enough? It's not like this is something you can measure. It's down to the satisfaction of certain individuals, like Big Swole.

If Big Swole says there is a diversity problem, does that mean there is a diversity problem? Well, maybe it does. People should certainly listen to her and try to identify any issues. But what if another minority wrestler says there isn't a diversity problem? No idea.

What it all boils down to is the lack of opportunity for the wrestlers to break out and make a name for themselves. As Swole pointed out, with all the talent in, there's a ton of talent that only gets 3 minutes to showcase themselves on Dark and that's not going going to get them over.

I don't necessarily think it's about handing them the strap. Take the Lucha Bros who basically won the belts out of nowhere and have been relegated to the 10 o'clock Friday night B-show doing very little. The Lucha Bros were some of the biggest acts AEW signed and yet it took them so long to even get that opportunity, would it be forthcoming if Rampage didn't exist? They just need to be mindful of that, I don't think for instance presenting Scorpio Sky as this under-appreciated talent is a good look for this discussion. I don't think pairing Jade Cargill with Mark Sterling is a good look for this discussion.

Just gonna slide in with some reminder about how Swole was pushed.


People seem to forget how hard she was pushed by AEW management because of how much time she spent out due to her Crohn's in 2021. She has been booked to do the following since August of 2020 (so in the last 15 months or so of her contract):

Defeat Britt Baker, Rebel, and Penelope Ford in a 3-on-1 handicap match on Dynamite (August 27, 2020)

Defeat Britt Baker in the "Tooth and Nail" match, the cinematic match in the dentist's office, at All Out (September 5, 2020)

Face Hikaru Shida for the world title at the Dynamite anniversary show (October 10, 2020)

Go 23-0 (aside from that world title match against Shida) over the course of about 10 months, including wins over Serena Deeb, KiLynn King, Nyla Rose, and the Bunny (July 30, 2020 to May 28, 2021)

Defeat Diamante in the Three Strikes match by a score of 2-1 (September 3, 2021)

She was given all that despite not wrestling for AEW for relatively significant stretches of time due to her illness. So while she may have some legitimate gripes, I think the argument that AEW doesn't push women of color is a bad one, even if she means herself, because she got quite a few significant wins and accomplishments during her time with the company.

Defeat Britt Baker, Rebel, and Penelope Ford in a 3-on-1 handicap match on Dynamite (August 27, 2020)

Britt Baker was in a wheelchair and Rebel was presenting as a manager who didn't know how to wrestle. It was virtually her and Penelope who was just a valet and the match went how long?

The women in general haven't been booked well and that's a trend that's continued.

This conversation is raging on social media, obviously. And has highlighted a bigger problem with AEW. In the 3 years to the day, that AEW has existed. They have failed to develop and produce a home-grown main event talent - let alone a person of colour in that position. Their top-tier talent is bought. Whether it was The Elite and friends initially, vets like Sting, Punk & Jericho, WWE drop-offs like Danielson, Mox & Adam Cole, etc. And guess what, they're all Caucasian. 

This conversation isn't new either. This photo is from a year ago, with the caption " When you have more POC as your champs then AEW has on it's whole roster. "




Forbes actually wrote an article on it, forbes.com as did DailyDDT DailyDDT.com

Tone-Deaf Tony Khan also boasted about the average income of AEW fans being higher than WWE fans. As well as being better educated. It was also reported that AEW's fanbase is 68% white, while WWE's is 53%. Why? representation.