AEW: Tony Khan Reportedly was Never Interested in Buying TNA Prior to Forming AEW, Dustin Rhodes on Plans for Retirement Match in Three Years, Young Bucks on Feeling Its Time to Return Back to AEW

Tony Khan Reportedly was Never Interested in Buying TNA Prior to Forming AEW

Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp reported in a recent Q&A article that his sources stated that AEW CEO Tony Khan never had any real interest in potentially buying TNA Wrestling prior to him forming AEW.

Sapp reported that those spoken to stated that TNA officials had reached out to Khan before AEW was formed in 2019 to gauge his interest but Khan never made any actual attempt for a potential purchase deal.

Sapp reported that Khan had felt that buying TNA did not make any financial sense for him to do.

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Dustin Rhodes Comments on His Plans for Retirement Match to Take Place in Three Years

A recent episode of the Battleground Podcast featured Dustin Rhodes as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Rhodes’ thoughts about his current plans for his in-ring wrestling career retirement.

“I have. I keep it close to the vest about my opponent. I have had this planned the last couple of years of who I want to finish up with. That’s going to take place in three years. It’s going to be tough to step away. By no means am I anywhere on Sting’s level, but I want that same kind of out. I think I’ve earned it. To finish it off on a pay-per-view and cut a heart-wrenching emotional promo after is what people like. It’s not like the old days. I want to win. I want to win that last match. I don’t want to lose. It means a lot to me, and I have been putting a lot of thought into it. I would say probably about three years. Things change. We’ll see where they take us. It’s hard enough to even say, ‘It’s almost time, Dustin.’ That’s tough. It’s been part of my life for so long. It’s going to be very emotional. Getting out of the business is a big step because you’re changing something you’ve done for long. What do you do? You have to find things to do in the interim to keep your mind right. I’ll be coaching and still producing, which I’m doing right now anyway. I love that. Passing all my knowledge to the young kids, that’s the payoff. When I teach them something and they go out and do it and it works. That’s the payoff, me passing on my knowledge and experience to the younger generation.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Young Bucks Comments on Recent Return to Japan for NJPW & Feeling Its Time to Come Back to AEW

This past Tuesday’s The New Beginning in Osaka 2025 event for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Osaka, Japan featured Los Ingobernables De Japon’s Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito defeating The Young Bucks to become the new IWGP Tag Team Champions.

Following the match, the Young Bucks’ Matthew & Nicholas Jackson gave their thoughts in a post-match backstage press conference about their recent return to Japan and feeling that it is “time to come back to work” in regards to their return to AEW.

Matthew Jackson – “I will say this: Coming back to Japan has been the experience of my life. I never thought I’d be able to come back here. For my mental health, it felt like we had to come back home, return to where it all started for The Young Bucks, and make things right and I feel like now… we’re better men. We’ve mended those fences and I think it’s time to come back to work and I don’t know immediately, but soon. We’re getting there. We’ve healed. We had to go on another journey, we’re globetrotting men. We travel the world and we do what we do best, better than anybody and even tonight, we still looked talented as hell. You gotta admit that. You heard Osaka, you heard Osaka. We have a connection with this place, with this city.”

Nicholas Jackson – “Hopefully, tonight is not a goodbye. Hopefully, it’s a see you later. Thank you.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com