Paul Wight has compared the leadership styles of Vince McMahon and Tony Khan, saying the fundamental difference is how the two promoters view the wrestlers working for them.
Paul Wight spent 22 years with WWE before leaving the company and signing with AEW in February 2021. Having worked extensively under Vince McMahon before joining Tony Khan’s promotion, Wight was asked to compare their approaches during an appearance on TMZ’s Inside The Ring.
According to Wight, Khan approaches AEW wrestlers in much the same way he would athletes from his other sporting ventures.
“Tony does things a lot differently, in the fact that Tony treats all the talent like he treats his professional athletes,” Wight said. “Tony doesn’t treat his talent like wrestlers.”
Wight believes McMahon had a very different understanding of the people working for him because of his decades within the wrestling industry.
“Vince treated his talent like wrestlers. He knew what they were. He knew when they were full of s***. He knew when they were scamming, because that’s the environment that I think Vince had to negotiate and deal with to make a success.”
However, Paul Wight stopped short of arguing that either philosophy was inherently better. He said Khan has his own vision for AEW and doesn’t want the promotion to simply recreate WWE’s presentation.
“Tony has a plan on what he’s doing. He has a vision of how he likes things,” Wight said. “He wants his own unique brand, his own unique style, so that’s what he’s created.”
Paul Wight Explains Difference Between Tony Khan And Vince McMahon
One area where Paul Wight sees a significant difference is the freedom performers receive to develop their characters and promos. He said AEW wrestlers are given an opportunity to find their own voices rather than being handed material created by a large writing team.
“When our talents have promos, there’s not 14 writers running around with clipboards that are basically regurgitating what the office thinks your character should say,” Wight said.
Instead, he believes Khan gives performers a television platform and expects them to find ways to connect with the audience themselves. Wight contrasted that environment with his previous experiences, recalling being heavily criticised for creative decisions elsewhere during his career.
“I’m not worried about getting executed in the middle of the arena like before,” he said.
For that reason, Wight believes AEW currently provides a particularly positive environment for younger wrestlers who are still discovering their characters.
“I think it’s more of a positive environment right now for younger talent to come to AEW and get a chance to explore and find things and develop themselves.”
Paul Wight does not believe the quality of modern wrestling talent is an issue. In fact, he described the current generation as some of the best pure athletes he has encountered during his career and praised the depth of both the men’s and women’s divisions. Instead, Wight believes presentation remains the biggest variable.
“The only difference is presentation, and how they get their character across,” Wight said. “How do they connect with the audience? What are they doing to connect within the limitations of the brand that they work for?”
