Tony Khan originally wanted Keiji Muto (The Great Muta) for AEW All Out

AEW President Tony Khan talks Keiji Muto's arrival at Rampage Grand Slam and shares that he wanted him for All Out

Photo Courtesy: All Elite Wrestling

Keiji Muto was wanted for All Out but ended up appearing at Grand Slam.

All Elite Wrestling held their second Grand Slam event at Arthur Ashe Stadium in September. At the Rampage Grand Slam taping, Keiji Muto (The Great Muta) made his AEW debut and saved Sting. Sting is going to be a part of Muto’s final match at the Tokyo Dome in February 2023.

Ahead of this week’s Dynamite, AEW President Tony Khan was a guest on My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox and shared that originally, he wanted Muto for All Out in early September.

Well, so they came together very differently [Saraya & Keiji Muto’s AEW debuts]. Great Muta, we’d been talking about for a long time and it was funny because Mox brought it up in the press conference and we were already talking about it and I was like, ‘They’re with New Japan’ so I was kind of like, ‘I don’t know if this is the best time Jon,’ and we were already working on it [Khan laughed]. But yeah, the timing was very good. I originally wanted to get Muta for All Out and he was not available and then it just seemed like a great idea for Grand Slam.

Elsewhere during the chat, Khan said Warner Bros. Discovery executives were excited about the idea of a two-hour Rampage Grand Slam. There’s going to be a second hour of AEW content on Friday with Battle of the Belts IV.

Now we have really exciting opportunities on Friday night with Rampage. I’ve spoke to the Warner Brothers Discovery executives about it and they were really excited about the performance of Grand Slam and the performance of a second hour and that’s pretty cool and now we’re getting a chance to try a second hour live with Battle of the Belts this week so, it’s just a perfect time for everything to really click in AEW.

As of this writing, currently scheduled for Battle of the Belts IV is PAC defending the All-Atlantic Championship against Trent Beretta. Wednesday’s Dynamite is the three-year anniversary episode.

If the quotes in this article are used, please credit ‘My Mom’s Basement with Robbie Fox’ with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions. 

About Andrew Thompson 9443 Articles
A Washington D.C. native and graduate of Norfolk State University, Andrew Thompson has been covering wrestling since 2017.