Big Swole Addresses Tony Khan’s Response To Her AEW Criticisms

Big Swole says she has not spoken with AEW President Tony Khan since he publicly criticized her on Twitter. In fact, Swole doubts she'll hear from Khan anytime in the near future.

"To answer everybody's question, no. There's been no apology," Swole said on her Swole World podcast. "There's been no contact or anything and I don't think there will be because I feel like maybe he feels he had said nothing wrong at all."

On New Year's Eve, Khan retweeted a link to a report on comments Big Swole made on her podcast. Khan also added his own words, which included a defense of the diversity in AEW and a criticism of Big Swole's in-ring skills.

"The top 2 @AEW execs are brown (me & Megha)!! Jade, Bowens, Caster, Dante, Nyla, Isiah & Marq Quen all won on tv this month. The TBS Title Tournament has been very diverse. I let Swole's contract expire as I felt her wrestling wasn't good enough. #AEWRampage Street Fight TONIGHT!," Khan wrote.

Big Swole said the tweet was a lot to process when she first read it. Now, she says Khan's comments left her feeling disappointed.

"I couldn't believe it," Swole said. "It went from that to... disappointed. I guess overall, I'm very disappointed. A person with that pedigree should know how to respond in a way that doesn't come off in the most negative way possible. Just to have that – What truth do you have? What grace?"

Swole feels much of the uproar over her comments could have been avoided if people had taken the time to listen to her podcast and hear what she said for themselves. She believes that is something Khan did not do before he sent out his tweet.

"Did you even listen to the podcast?" Swole asked. "Obviously not, because it just went completely off the rails. You went completely to counting brown people. If it was truly about counting brown people I would be naming certain demographics."

Big Swole discussed things she thinks need to change in AEW on her podcast late last month, lamenting that the company's biggest issue is a lack of structure. She also expressed her feeling that representation for the black community in AEW is not genuine.

She says she brought up the same issues to AEW management during exit interviews prior to her departure from the company late last year. At that time she says Khan had positive things to say about her work in AEW.

"I'm a person that in my exit interview you just praised me for everything," Swole recalled. "You praised me for... my leadership roles in the division and what I've done to help and how my matches were good and great and how 'Hey, we would love to have you back.' But a couple of weeks or so later (you) did this. I was just very disappointed, embarrassed."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Swole World with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.