Tony Khan on Satnam Singh’s AEW debut: ‘I could have done it better’

Tony Khan says he wishes he had handled Satnam Singh's debut differently.

The 7ft 3inch former basketball player debuted following the main event of AEW Dynamite this week. After Samoa Joe defeated Minoru Suzuki, the lights in the building went out and when they came back on, Singh was in the ring. He then aided Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt in their attack on Joe. 

Speaking on Busted Open Radio, the AEW President addressed criticism of the angle. 

"I could have done it better. It's one of those things, I wish I had done it a little differently," Khan said. 

"There were things about it I probably should have done differently, now I see in hindsight. To be honest, it wasn't my idea to turn the lights out but I am the ultimate filter, I'm the person who everything goes through. I put the outline of the show together and when I came in Wednesday, I thought it was the best outline I've ever put together, one of them, at least."

The AEW President continued to say that Singh is an important performer for the company. Our Dave Meltzer previously reported that the angle was designed to build the AEW brand in India, and has much to do with the WarnerMedia/Discovery merger.

"People might not have liked it. Satnam is an important person for us. It was important to debut him in a meaningful way and to show that with Jay Lethal, he's going to be a force to be reckoned with," Khan continued. "At the same time, turning the lights out for somebody people didn't recognize, it's a great point. To be honest, the person who brought up turning the lights off has over 30 years of experience in pro-wrestling. When they brought it up to me, I was only looking at the pros and I should have thought about the cons."

"We had all these people in the room and somehow not one person when that idea came up brought up the negatives and then when we did it, all of a sudden all of the negatives were very obvious." 

He continued to say, however, that while the angle has been criticized, it has also garnered the international attention he was hoping for. 

"I think it created a lot of buzz. Satnam's debut has been the most watched thing out of the show and frankly, it's gotten international attention I've wanted it to get," he said. 

Khan continued to say that the response to the angle has been a learning experience for him, however. 

"I appreciate what their feedback was and now as I am in my third year of doing this, I would not do that that way again and these are the things you learn going into year three that I would do different in year four or five."