Tony Khan Says Lio Rush Has Found Something ‘Far More Lucrative’ With New Darker Character in AEW

Tony Khan has weighed in on the evolution of Lio Rush, and he’s clearly impressed by where the former cruiserweight standout has landed creatively.

Khan reflected on Rush’s AEW journey, noting that when Rush first arrived in the promotion back in 2021, the two had conversations in which Khan attempted to offer guidance on how Rush could grow both inside the ring and beyond it. Five years later, Khan suggests that Rush has figured things out on his own terms — and then some. Khan described Rush as having “tapped into something far more lucrative,” a nod to the darker, more menacing persona Rush has been channeling in 2026.

The character shift has been one of the more compelling transformations on the AEW roster in recent memory. Where Rush once leaned into a high-energy, crowd-friendly presentation, his current incarnation carries a noticeably colder edge — a reinvention that appears to be resonating.

Rush also made his presence felt at Forbidden Door despite not being booked for a match on the card, further underlining that he’s become a name the promotion wants visible on its biggest stages.

For Khan, the comments amount to a public endorsement of where Rush’s career trajectory is heading. Whether that momentum translates into a more prominent singles program for Rush in the weeks ahead remains to be seen, but the AEW president’s enthusiasm suggests the company sees real upside in the revamped version of “The Man of the Hour.”