Revealed: Two Incidents Of Alleged WWE Contract Tampering Which Tony Khan Took Personally

Tony Khan couldn't stay away from X (FKA Twitter) last week as the AEW CEO took multiple shots at Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Vince McMahon before and after AEW Dynamite went head-to-head with WWE NXT on Tuesday, October 10. 

Khan explained his reasoning behind the tweets later in the week, stating that WWE's alleged contract tampering of AEW talent while Khan's mother was in hospital made the competition between the two companies personal. 

"This weekend marks 1 year since @MayoClinic saved my mom's life. During her ordeal many AEW talent came to me alleging WWE tampering, inducing them to break their contracts. I'll never forget these phone calls at her side in the hospital; it's when business became personal for me. This is nothing new, I mentioned it last year after she came home. It's relevant today because she checked in for surgery 1 year ago today. As I've mentioned several times since, @MayoClinic are heroes and thanks to them, her recovery from a very grim outlook has been a miracle," Khan wrote on October 13. 

It emerged back in August 2022 that WWE had allegedly approached several contracted AEW stars about possibly jumping ship to WWE, with the approaches coming weeks after Triple H was appointed WWE Chief Content Officer. AEW's legal team is believed to have directly contacted WWE and told them to cease such approaches. 

Two such examples of the contract tampering, according to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, were WWE approaching Swerve Strickland and William Regal. 

"I can tell you two situations that Khan took it personally. One of which was Swerve Strickland, who signed a multi-year deal on pay-per-view, for a Hit Row reunion. He, I believe, referred WWE or WWE's talent relations person to his lawyer. Then there was the other instance, when Tony Khan's mother was in the hospital, and while his mother was in the hospital it became abundantly clear that WWE had tampered and spoken to William Regal. They offered him a new role that had already been prepared, so that's why he took it personal for those," Sean Ross Sapp said.

Tony Khan has previously commented on the contract tampering, noting that he thinks WWE and AEW hate each other. William Regal's exit from AEW was agreed to following a long phone call with Khan while the AEW CEO was outside the Mayo Clinic, during which Regal expressed his desire to work with his son Bailey Matthews. 

H/T to DrainBamager