Tony Khan revealed that WWE Legend Hulk Hogan was banned from all AEW televised or live events, during a fiery Twitter confrontation with his ex-wife in 2020. The AEW President has always retained total control over his promotion, ever since he stripped the EVP’s like Cody Rhodes of their booking power, leading to The American Nightmare’s Return to WWE at Wrestlemania.
So far, nobody has been publicly banned from AEW before or since Hulk Hogan (and his wife) were given that honour. While it is unknown about the rest of his family and where they stand with Khan, those two are the only ones currently known to be explicitly banned from the company.
Hulk Hogan’s AEW ban was revealed by Tony Khan in a reply to a racially charged Tweet by Hulk Hogan’s now-ex wife Linda McMahon. The former “Hogan Knows Best” star Tweeted out during the riots after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, stating that “watching the looting, it’s all afro Americans. Not sure how robbing and stealing will set the record straight but if they want to be heard they need to be civilised”.
This clearly struck a nerve with Khan, who is mixed race (his father is Pakistani while his mother is a white American) and responded swiftly and aggressively. He succinctly let Linda know that she was also banned form AEW alongside her husband, letting fans know for the first time that former WWE Champion Hulk Hogan was banned from attending any AEW events.
You’ve now joined your husband in being banned from all AEW shows. Congratulations.
Tony Khan to Linda Hogan on Twitter
It wasn’t explicitly mentioned the reasons why Hogan was banned by AEW, but everyone can read between the lines. His racist comments made during an illegally-recorded sex tape with the wife of his friend Bubba the Love Sponge made him a pariah in wrestling. Hogan was fired from WWE and wiped from its Hall of Fame before awkwardly re-joining the company in 2018, although wrestlers and fans could not forget the horrible things he had said in the horrendous clip.
AEW has marketed itself an an inclusive and diverse promotion that anybody should be comfortable to work in or watch. This conviction to their morals has led them to pass up maybe the biggest star in American wrestling history, which shows you just how seriously Tony Khan and AEW take inclusivity, at the sacrifice of Hulkamania running wild, brother!