A top champion has drawn attention for calling out AEW President Tony Khan after his major announcement on Dynamite.
In a surprising turn of events, Tony Khan announced a new major championship for the Jacksonville-based promotion. The title is the AEW National Championship, which interestingly resembles the NWA National Championship. As a result, Tony Khan was subject to severe criticism, especially from NWA officials. Earlier, NWA’s Bryan Idol had come out to say that Khan’s decision to introduce a similar title to the one in his promotion was engineered to downplay NWA and was Khan’s retaliation to losing a previous trademark war for the word “shockwave.” Earlier today, the reigning NWA National Heavyweight Champion, Mike Mondo, also came out and sent a strong message to Tony Khan.
Taking to X, Mondo stated that Tony Khan is confused and that there is only one prestigious National Championship, and it belongs to him and the NWA.
“Let me be CLEAR. There is only ONE NWA & there is only one PRESTIGIOUS National Championship that holds legit lineage & has for decades. So to Tony Khan or anyone else confused… here’s the legit title, with the company it belongs to & the legit National Champion! MY NAME IS MIKE MONDO.”
Check out his post on X below:
The first AEW National Champion will be crowned at Full Gear.
Following the announcement of the championship, Tony Khan also revealed that he will crown the first-ever AEW National Champion in a Casino Gauntlet match at Full Gear 2025. The first three competitors for the Gauntlet match were also announced to be Shelton Benjamin and Bobby Lashley of the Hurt Syndicate, alongside their rival Ricochet.
The remaining participants in this high-stakes match are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see if Tony Khan responds to Mike Mondo’s statement or Bryan Idol’s accusations in the near future.
Edited by Karan Raj
