Tony Khan says he could have done Satnam Singh's debut better

[Chris]

Source: f4wonline.com

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."

 

[Marty McFourth]

I think the biggest issue was definitely the lights going out. I was expecting to recognise who it was, so when they came back up I was very confused looking towards the thread to see what you guys were saying. I like the stable itself, and Jay Lethal heeling it up is pretty great.

 

[Hidden Blaze]

Yeah the lights out thing was what ruined it for me I was hyped because I thought we was going to get some cool af debut…. Then I was just like

 

[Comrade Khan]

Admiting mistakes and looking for ways to improve is the exact response id want a promoter to have

 

[Cwalker]

Lights don’t need to go out for everyone. Especially when one of your feature stars has that in his entrance.

But at least he can admit it was bad.

Shows a level of humility and hopefully diehards realize that everything he does isn’t perfect.

 

[Chris]

Lights don’t need to go out for everyone. Especially when one of your feature stars has that in his entrance.

But at least he can admit it was bad.

Shows a level of humility and hopefully diehards realize that everything he does isn’t perfect.

I saw some people posting population comparisons between America and India to try and defend the segment just like how WWE homers would do to defend Jinder but most of the comments I've seen have been critical like "great show but terrible ending" and shit....one even said "the real TNA throwback wasn't Sonjay, Joe and Lethal, but ending your show with a wet fart after a great match"

 

[Cwalker]

I saw some people posting population comparisons between America and India to try and defend the segment just like how WWE homers would do to defend Jinder but most of the comments I've seen have been critical like "great show but terrible ending" and shit....one even said "the real TNA throwback wasn't Sonjay, Joe and Lethal, but ending your show with a wet fart after a great match"

I mean…I agree with that sentiment. Especially when you hype up an overrun like something great is going to happen.

Had it happened in the middle of the show, we probably wouldn’t even be talking about it now.

We’ll see what happens. It didn’t work for Juicer. Let’s see if this dude gets over

 

[Chris]

Yeah like as critical as I am of the finish, it's not like it was a bad segment and I like what it built towards, it was just the lights off part especially and combine that with ending a hype show in an advertised overrun slot, middle of the show and everyone would be cool with this

 

[Hidden Blaze]

Yeah, I’ve seen many comments about how great the show was and then the ending was such a letdown. Like CWalker said, if it was in the middle of the show it would not be a big deal or anything. But yeah you built up the overrun and then gave us that hell even if the show ended that way at just 10 with no overrun or build of it, and probably wouldn’t be talked about as much as it is.

 

[Cwalker]

Either TK or even Black should’ve killed the whole lights out shit. TK knows he’s wrong in the presentation, but if Black knew what was gonna happen, then he’s gotta be vocal and protect his “thing”

 

[Chris]

Either TK or even Black should’ve killed the whole lights out shit. TK knows he’s wrong in the presentation, but if Black knew what was gonna happen, then he’s gotta be vocal and protect his “thing”

They spam the lights out all the time tho, it's not like it's just for this. I'm not a fan either really, at first it was only for actual major debuts so now that expectation is there and it's even worse that they'd do it for this guy. They also did it for Sting/Darby at the last Dynamite I went to which makes sense for their characters at least but bc they'd already established it as a debut thing i was going nuts bc I thought the briscoes were about to show up since FTR were in the ring

 

[Cwalker]

They spam the lights out all the time tho, it's not like it's just for this. I'm not a fan either really, at first it was only for actual major debuts so now that expectation is there and it's even worse that they'd do it for this guy. They also did it for Sting/Darby at the last Dynamite I went to which makes sense for their characters at least but bc they'd already established it as a debut thing i was going nuts bc I thought the briscoes were about to show up since FTR were in the ring

I understand it for debuts. Even that after a while loses its luster.

But isn’t that the House of Black’s thing at the same time? The whole “lights put” thing is overused in wrestling all together but don’t dilute their entrance by doing it every two weeks with different people

 

[Enkidu]

In Malakai Black's case the lights-out-effect is meant as some kind of magical control, isn't it? And to give some babyfaces for their debut a nice effect by the production crew is also plausible. But to give some nonmagical heel an advantage, feels like the company or the crew questionably taking sides.

 

[Chris]

I understand it for debuts. Even that after a while loses its luster.

But isn’t that the House of Black’s thing at the same time? The whole “lights put” thing is overused in wrestling all together but don’t dilute their entrance by doing it every two weeks with different people

Yeah its his thing too but it's kinda annoying with them, I'd actually prefer they stopped doing the lights out thing and you can keep it for actual major debuts still

 

[Comrade Khan]

Yeah like as critical as I am of the finish, it's not like it was a bad segment and I like what it built towards, it was just the lights off part especially and combine that with ending a hype show in an advertised overrun slot, middle of the show and everyone would be cool with this

I was hoping the tag would main n red dragon wins
Myself