All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan has opened up about the recent Le Dinner Debonair segment featuring MJF and Inner Circle leader Chris Jericho.
Acknowledging the reaction to the unique musical number during an interview with PWInsider, Khan admitted he predicted it would be a “polarizing segment.”
When asked if he wanted to continue exploring unconventional vignetters or wanted to skew closer to a more grounded style, Khan shared how he believed the musical segment aligned with AEW’s sports-oriented values.
“I thought it was pretty logical, man. I think that segment is sports-oriented. Like when I watch the ESPYs or when I watch…you watch music videos, it’s not unusual to see a big athlete in a musical number, and the key thing to me was that it wasn’t done in an unrealistic context because the idea that we ended up settling on to me was a very realistic idea.”
Le Dinner Debonair Was “Very On Brand”
Tony Khan argued how Jericho and MJF are two of the “biggest showboats in wrestling,” who love to sing their own praises. To him, their egomania would justify their “hammy performance together.” He added how the entire piece’s ambiance was “very on brand” for the two wrestlers.
Khan explained how it was key that Jericho and MJF acknowledged the camera and broke the fourth wall. He stressed how looking and singing into the camera was all about connecting with and entertaining the fans.
“Clearly they were doing it for themselves as these characters but it was very much for the benefit of the fans. So it’s like to me, in their minds it was for the benefit of the fans,” Khan said. “So to me, it’s very much…it’s still a realistic segment. I don’t think it’s…people talk about a sports-based feel but I’ve seen athletes do tons of musical numbers and you know, the Super Bowl Shuffle? Was the Super Bowl Shuffle not real sports? Because that’s about as real sports as I can remember.”
He argued how that era represented a time when sports felt very real. Khan noted that, if fans were to take an honest approach to Le Dinner Debonair, they should juxtapose the segment with all the times they’ve seen athletes singing and dancing in music videos.
