All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has been making waves with the recent returns of top stars Rush and Rey Fenix to the ring.
However, the surprises were met with criticism from fans who felt that the company didn’t do enough to promote the anticipated comebacks ahead of time.
In a recent interview, AEW president Tony Khan addressed the complaints and revealed the thought process behind the surprise returns.
Khan explained that he only recently found out that Rey Fenix was medically cleared to return to action, and he wanted to give fans a nice surprise by bringing back the La Facción Ingobernable leader without prior promotion.
“I wanted to give the fans a nice surprise on Saturday and I thought that it would be great to have Rush come back,”
Khan said. He also mentioned that he didn’t learn about Fenix’s clearance until after Dynamite was over, and the return was finalized just before Collision began.
Fans were caught off guard when Rush returned with a 2-minute win over Martin Stone, followed by Fenix’s surprise return in a 15-minute match against The Beast Mortos fka Black Taurus.
While some fans appreciated the unexpected twists, others felt that AEW should have built up the returns more to create greater excitement.
Khan defended his approach, stating that he wanted to create a fun surprise for the fans in Jacksonville, similar to what they’ve done with matches like the Casino Gauntlet match on Wednesdays.
This marks Fenix’s first match since dropping the TNT Championship to Orange Cassidy on October 10 during the Title Tuesday edition of Dynamite, while Rush’s last AEW match was at Worlds End on December 30.
The returns of these top stars are significant for AEW, and Khan’s decision to keep them under wraps until the last minute added an element of excitement to the show.
In other AEW news, Samoa Joe is set to arrive in the AEW Fight Forever video game later this month as part of the World War Joe DLC Pack, which will be released on May 8.
Joe has not wrestled since losing the World Championship to Swerve Strickland at Dynasty last month but will return to the ring tonight on Dynamite against Isiah Kassidy.
The debate around promoting wrestler comebacks is ongoing, but Tony Khan’s approach has certainly sparked conversation among fans. Whether or not this strategy pays off in the long run remains to be seen, but one
