4 Reasons Nick Khan Telling Busted Open to Keep Ripping WWE Is the Smartest PR Move He’s Made

WWE’s president wants a media partner to keep the criticism coming — and that’s not weakness, it’s strategy.

Every so often a wrestling executive says something that sounds counterintuitive on first listen and shrewd on the second. That’s exactly what happened when Nick Khan told the Busted Open crew he wants them to stay critical of WWE. On the surface it’s odd — since when does a company invite its own media partners to keep swinging? But dig in and it’s one of the savviest things Khan has done. Here are the four reasons, ranked from “nice touch” to “genuinely brilliant.”

4. It costs him absolutely nothing

Let’s start with the low-hanging fruit. Khan isn’t handing over creative control or promising anything material. He’s giving a green light to a show that was going to be critical anyway. Busted Open lives on hot takes and pushback — that’s the format. Telling them to keep doing what they already do is the executive equivalent of “you have my permission to breathe.” It’s a freebie. But even a freebie can be smart when you frame it right, and Khan framed it perfectly. That’s why it lands at the bottom of the list and not off it.

3. It buys credibility that money can’t

Here’s where it starts to get clever. The single biggest liability for any company-adjacent media show is the perception that it’s a mouthpiece. The second listeners smell PR, the trust evaporates. By publicly blessing criticism, Khan inoculates Busted Open against the “they’re just shilling” accusation — which, paradoxically, makes the show more valuable to WWE as a promotional platform. A critic you trust selling you on Money in the Bank being worth the ten-week wait is a thousand times more persuasive than a cheerleader doing the same. Khan understands that credibility is the product. You can’t buy it. You can only permit it.

2. It reflects a company confident enough to take the hits

Timing is everything, and the context here is a company printing money. When you’re posting numbers like TKO’s $1.547 billion quarter, you can afford to let a podcast tell the world your booking stinks. Criticism only feels threatening to companies that are insecure or struggling. WWE is neither right now. Inviting the shots is a flex — it signals “we’re so far ahead that your take on last week’s RAW doesn’t dent us.” There’s a version of this that reads as arrogant, but Khan pitches it as openness, which is the far better look. Confidence disguised as humility is elite messaging.

1. It turns critics into unpaid quality control — and defuses the real fanbase

This is the top spot, and it’s not close. The most dangerous audience for WWE isn’t the casual viewer — it’s the hardcore fan who feels unheard. Those are the people who spread discontent, who turn a lukewarm PLE into a trending disaster, who make the difference between “disappointing” and “backlash.” By elevating a critical show and telling them to keep going, Khan gives that fanbase a pressure valve and a feedback loop. The gripes get aired on a platform WWE monitors. It’s crowdsourced quality control that doubles as fan therapy. Smart companies don’t silence their loudest critics — they give them a stage and a microphone and let them feel like partners.

Think about how much this matters in a landscape where talent themselves are increasingly candid. When someone like Jeff Cobb can openly admit the MFTs faction didn’t play out as pitched, the old wall between company message and honest assessment is already crumbling. Fans can tell the difference between spin and straight talk faster than ever. Khan isn’t fighting that tide — he’s surfing it. He’d rather WWE be associated with the honest conversation than be its target.

The verdict

Is any of this altruism? Of course not. Khan is a dealmaker, and this is a deal — his goodwill for their credibility, and both sides walk away richer. But the fact that it’s calculated doesn’t make it less effective. The best PR is the kind that doesn’t look like PR at all, and telling a critical show to stay critical is about as invisible as spin gets. Everybody wins, WWE most of all.

Do you buy that Khan actually wants the smoke, or is this just a slicker way of managing the narrative? Sound off in the comments — and try to be critical about it.