Tony Khan Details Stokely Hathaway's AEW Signing

One month on from his WWE release, Stokely Hathaway (FKA Malcolm Bivens) made his All Elite Wrestling debut at Sunday's Double Or Nothing pay-per-view, helping Jade Cargill to retain the TBS Championship before he aligned with The Baddies.

Hathaway's debut was a last-minute deal, Tony Khan revealed during the post-Double Or Nothing media scrum, as the former Diamond Mine manager's 30-day non-compete clause from WWE only expired on Saturday, May 28.

"I was in a very unique position. It was pretty unusual. Stokely's 90 days expired yesterday. I had never met him or spoke to him until today, because I do things the right way, with honour. It just so happened that his 90 days expired and I had this idea. We were lucky. There is a lot of independent wrestling and stuff going on, I guess he's been around Vegas. I had never met him until today, I swear on my life, never had a conversation with him," Khan began.

"I've had him in mind since 2018, actually. I remember, way back in the day, actually with Cody (Rhodes). I was saying, 'I really like Stokely Hathaway.' I'm a big fan of him. He came in today as Stokely Hathaway and having had another name, recently, with another promotion, I never had this conversation with him. Today, I told him, 'I want you to be Stokely Hathaway. I'm the owner of Ring of Honor, you have a great history with Ring of Honor,'" he continued. 

"Not only did I explain that I want to pair him with the world's greatest network champion, the top undefeated pro wrestler, two years in, with a sparkling record and add to the presentation that has already come so far and so fast. Like Jade said, he's a great talker, and I literally never met him or spoken to him until today, which is pretty cool that it worked out." 

Khan has high hopes for the partnership of Cargill and Hathaway and the AEW President compared them to the classic pairing of Nick Bockwinkel and Bobby Heenan.

"It made for a great moment, it was a great surprise for the fans. The timing, we are fortunate sometimes, it was great timing that [his non-compete] expired yesterday. It's an obvious solution, putting one of the great champions, who already has so much charisma, with a great talker and they can be like (Nick) Bockwinkel and (Bobby) Heenan, a great talker with another great talker and a great mind. They could be the new Bockwinkel and Heenan," Khan added.

H/T to Fightful