Tony Khan takes issue with the idea that the FTW Championship was added to AEW as a joke.
The FTW Championship was brought into AEW in late 2020 by Taz, who awarded it to Brian Cage. The FTW Championship is not an officially sanctioned championship in AEW, similar to its designation in ECW.
Khan and new champion HOOK were asked about the title being brought into AEW as a joke at the 2024 All In post-show media scrum. Khan took issue with the remark, claiming that it was never intended to be a joke or treated as such.
Tony Khan reacts
“It wasn’t brought in as a joke or an insult. I brought it in as a really important part of the company. It wasn’t supposed to be a joke,” Khan said. “[Taz] didn’t bring it in as a joke at all. He brought it in to represent somebody who was the top-pushed heel against the strongest-booked, best wrestler in the world at the time, who was and is Jon Moxley. And then Jon Moxley’s top challenger was Brian Cage. And Brian Cage came in as the FTW Champion and said, ‘I’m the FTW Champion’ and we built up to Brian Cage. Brian Cage won the Casino Ladder match and he was the FTW Champion. He beat a lot of the top stars at Double Or Nothing in 2020 to build up to a match with Jon Moxley in the summer of 2020.
“It was a big deal. Brian Cage was one of the top heels in the company when the FTW title came into the company,” Khan continued. “Brian Cage is still a great star, it was good to have him here tonight. The title has been passed through a number of different wrestlers onto one of our top stars in HOOK. But the title was never meant to be a joke or anything. I know Taz and myself, nobody in AEW ever intended [the title to be treated as a joke].”
The reporter attempted to clarify his remarks. He stated he meant that the FTW was a non-sanctioned championship, not that it was treated with disrespect. Khan said the title’s lineage was important before it arrived in AEW. He said HOOK has also been an important figure too.
HOOK comments
HOOK then shared some facts about the title. The champion shared that he flew the title to Jacksonville long before he was a wrestler on TV.
“One little thing you might find interesting is I was actually the person who flew the FTW title down to Jacksonville for it to be used, way before I was on-screen or working. That was the first time I met Tony,” HOOK added.
Khan said it was meant to be a tribute to the title and loved what it stood for in AEW.
