As has unfortunately been the case with AEW pay-per-views more than once over the past 18 months, there was something of a dark cloud hanging over Worlds End on Saturday night on Long Island. Once again, they involved one of the company’s top stars.
In this case, it was serious though as of yet unsubstantiated allegations of sexual harassment against Chris Jericho, one of which involved a wrestler who left AEW suddenly several years ago. It definitely affected the reaction Jericho received at Worlds End, with noticeable booing any time he was involved in his eight-man tag team match and several signs referencing the allegations plainly visible on the broadcast.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jericho did not take part in the post-event media scrum. Tony Khan did, of course, and AEW’s CEO, GM and head of creative was asked by PWI’s Kevin McElvaney fairly early in the conference what measures are in place to help AEW prevent or investigate sexual misconduct in the workplace.
Without going into details, Khan touted the “policy in place” and touted his belief that AEW has “the best safety record, I believe of any pro wrestling company in the world.”
Later in the scrum, Wrestling Junkie’s Phil Strum pressed Khan on whether Jericho specifically was “at any time under any internal investigation for sexual misconduct or any other type of misconduct over the course of his tenure in AEW.”
“I can’t speak to internet and unsourced rumors,” Khan said. “I think I spoke earlier to Kevin and mentioned the policy we have in place and the disciplinary process. We’ve always followed that and I believe AEW is the safest wrestling company in the world and we have the best track record for safety and I would hold it up to anybody and any time anybody has any kind of complaint, they have an open door, again, to say it to me or to anyone in the office and we would look into it any time.”
For some of AEW’s past incidents, including those involving CM Punk, Khan wasn’t able to speak about them for legal reasons. While that could certainly be true here, especially if there is an investigation of some type underway, this is a story with the potential to linger into the new year.