AEW: AEW Officially Names Kosha Irby as New COO, Nigel McGuinness on Getting Back in the Ring Again Recently, Mike Santana on Reasons for AEW Departure

AEW Officially Names Kosha Irby as New COO of Company

As noted before, AEW hired former WWE Regional Director of Live Events Kosha Irby this past January to be their new Chief Operating Officer.

AEW announced earlier today that they have officially named Kosha Irby as their new COO of the company.

Official press release:

AEW Names Kosha Irby Chief Operating Officer

— Irby to Oversee Key Infrastructure Enhancements Across Multiple Lines of AEW’s Business —

March 26, 2024 – AEW CEO Tony Khan today announced that Kosha Irby has officially joined All Elite Wrestling as Chief Operating Officer.

Irby will oversee all strategic planning and execution of Live Events, Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, Licensing, Consumer Products and other major lines of business for the company. He joins AEW from Clemson University, where he served as Chief Marketing Officer within the athletic department and has previously held positions with the Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football as Chief Marketing Officer, Professional Bull Riders (PBR) as President and WWE as Regional Director of Live Events.

“Kosha brings decades of experience within the sports, entertainment and wrestling industries alongside an incredible work ethic and passion for our brand,” said Khan. “As Chief Operating Officer, he will be a phenomenal asset to AEW as we enter the next phase of the company’s ongoing business development and expansion.”

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Nigel McGuinness Comments on Getting Back in the Ring Recently & Feeling “Perfectly Okay”

A recent episode of F4WOnline’s Weekly Wrestling podcast featured AEW commentator Nigel McGuinness as the guest. One of the topics discussed included McGuinness revealing that he recently got back into the ring and felt “perfectly okay.”

“All the time that I was in WWE, how difficult it was for me, and I think a lot of the… I don’t want to say the jealousy and the bitterness, but those sort of emotions that certainly existed between me and Bryan and the success that he’s had.

When I was in WWE, seeing so many of my peers coming up and having that level of success, and that level of fame and fortune was very difficult for me, certainly, to sort of accept.

Especially when I could still wrestle today. I got in the ring last week and just felt perfectly ok. Sometimes, people say it’s a lot easier if you choose yourself to quit and I don’t think that it’s the case.

Given my history in terms of concussions and various other things, I do watch a lot of matches and go, ‘couldn’t do that anymore.'”

McGuinness last wrestled in December of 2011 at an indie event for American Pro Wrestling Alliance.

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com

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Mike Santana Comments on His Reasons for His Departure from AEW & Working Relationship with Ortiz

A recent episode of the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast featured former AEW talent Mike Santana as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Santana’s thoughts about the reasons for his departure from AEW earlier this month.

“Well, like I was telling you, my decision to leave AEW came well before my injury actually. I got hurt in June of 2022 and at that point, I was just dealing with so much in my life personally and professionally at work, and I was just burnt out. My contract was coming up in September I believe and I had already made the decision that I’m not going to re-sign and I need to take a break and deal with the things that I needed to deal with… then the injury happened. So, that was a lot. A lot of that was going on during that time for me personally.

I’m not sure (if AEW was looking to re-sign me). But I wasn’t really actively pursuing — the time was coming up. Like I said, it was June I got hurt. Our contract was up August I think… At the end of August and I wasn’t really actively pursuing, oh, are you guys going to re-sign us? Because already in my head, I was like, yeah, I need to get away. I need to take a break. But I’m sure something would have worked out and they probably would have re-signed us. But yeah man, during that time, it was a very dark time for me.

Unhappiness personally in my life, outside of wrestling and then professionally, things weren’t really going good. I was just miserable to say the least, I was unhappy. My partnership was falling apart. Things at work just weren’t… a lot of things were just very stagnant and I’m the type that I’m a go-getter and I’m very goal-oriented and again, in this business, I treat it as such. I treat it as a business and if you’re not striving to be at the top and to be a champ and grow yourself then what are you doing? And that’s with anything I feel like. But also, I was also dealing with my addiction issues during that time. At that point, they were getting pretty bad… when the injury happened, I remember it happened and laying there in the ring and I was like, damn, I got hurt but like, thank God I got hurt. Yeah. It was a weird time.”

Santana also gave his thoughts about why him and Ortiz never became AEW World Tag Team Champions during his time in the company.

“Your guess is as good as mine (as to why Proud & Powerful didn’t win AEW Tag Titles). I’ma be real, I’ma shoot straight with you. The reason I was given was that there was too many other people fighting for that spot, and that pissed me off more than anything… Yes! (it feels like we would also be fighting for that spot) And I understand that when you get to a certain level in this business, if you don’t fight for yourself, if you don’t advocate for yourself, you ain’t getting nowhere, and that was a big part of my fight within my team and when I heard that, it just validated everything that I was like, alright.

There was in the beginning (talks of Proud & Powerful getting the AEW Tag Titles). It was right before the pandemic. We were feuding with The Bucks, we were ending our feud with The Bucks and they both told us, they were like, ‘Hey, after this, you’re gonna go and start working a program with Frankie and Scorp’ — at the time that they were still champs — ‘and then you guys are gonna grab the belts from them’ and whatever. So that was the week of New Year’s Eve and then we were supposed to have a match New Year’s Day and then start the program with them. We were gonna go into some promos and then that morning, I woke up and got the call that my dad passed away. So I had to leave. So I left and then I was gone for two weeks and in those two weeks, everything changed and then that was it.”

Santana also gave his thoughts about the reasons why his longtime friendship and working relationship with Ortiz broke apart.

“Well, we (Proud & Powerful) were together for 10 years I think and you know, when you’re together with someone that long, it’s like a married couple, right? There’s good, there’s bad and I think, honestly, for the most part, it was like, I think we just grew apart over time and also, our visions for the tag team and its future and, you know, its success, we weren’t on the same page when it came to a lot of those things and it is what it is. Everybody has their thoughts, everybody goes about things differently. But yeah, like I told you, I’m a go-getter. I like to create opportunities for myself. I’m more than willing to fight for our spot. But also, I’m not gonna be the only one.

I wanted more for the tag team and that was the main thing and again, it just wasn’t… how do I say it? Our visions just weren’t the same… Yeah, yeah, for the most part (I am saying that Ortiz was happy with what we were being given & I wanted more for us), and then that’s when I was like, yo alright, well, this is gonna drive me crazy. I refuse to be miserable. So I think I wanna start doing more single stuff, start challenging myself as a performer, start growing. I’m not one that likes to stay stagnant… It wasn’t met with a lot of support and it created like a friction and I was like, ‘Man, you’re my brother’ and that for me, it was like, ‘Alright, we can’t do this anymore.’

I wouldn’t say (there’s heat between myself & Ortiz) — I mean, for me, I don’t hold any — I told him after the match, I was like, ‘Yo, I hope the best for you, I hope you do well and there’s no hard feelings.’ I hold no hate, no grudge, nothing. Again, I’m in a different place in my life in general and I’m good. I’m chilling.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com