The Boys respond to Tony Khan.
The Boys, also known as Brandon and Brent Tate, were released by AEW in a wave of cuts on April 1. During the ROH Supercard of Honor media call, Tony Khan was asked about the releases. He said that The Boys no-showed events, so he had to make a tough call.
On April 5, The Boys took to Twitter to respond. They stated that they were told that their releases were due to budget cuts. The post also details how they had legitimate travel issues that prevented them from making a show.
The Boys’ Statement
The statement is as follows:
“We had planned to stay quiet publicly about our release to take nothing away from the biggest show of the year for ROH in Supercard tonight out of respect to the locker room that will be on it. Due to Tony’s comments and the numerous fans, media outlets, friends and coworkers, that have reached out to us, that isn’t an option for us anymore. We want to apologize to the Ring of Honor fans and to the AEW fans that were invested in the storyline and were expecting the both of us to be there.
With so many fans wanting answers in addition to numerous people that have voiced their comments at the thought of us really just no showing on some of the biggest opportunities of our lives due to Tony Khan’s statements, here it is.
My brother and I were told that we would be included in this story through Supercard and there were plans for us to be with John and Taya leading up to the show. We were asked to pitch several ideas for ourselves insinuating we would get the opportunity to show that we can wrestle more in the future.”
The Boys Detail Travel Issues
The Boys went on to detail their travel issues as they noted that they were booked out of the wrong airport for the first time in their careers.
“On March 16th, our scheduled date following “Dalton losing custody”, for the first time in our history of flying in North America previously with Sinclair ROH and now Tony Khan’s ROH, our travel was booked out of Nashville instead of our home airport of Knoxville. (The screenshots of this interaction with management and travel including the times are in the comments.)
On Monday, April 1, we were contacted by management accompanied by HR on a call to inform us of our release due to “budget cuts.” At that time, we raised concerns and repeatedly questioned if the release was due to the travel issues. We were repeatedly and adamantly assured that this was not the case and based solely on budget cuts.'”
The Boys Reached Out To Tony Khan
In the post, The Boys stated that they provided details of their travel issues to Tony Khan and asked him to clear it up, but they have not heard back.
“Since Tony’s statement, we reached out yesterday providing the specific details asking for Tony to clear this up. We have gotten no response. Unfortunately, in the court of public opinion, for a lot of people commenting, it’s assumed that we’re guilty from one man’s words until we now have to prove we’re not.
We’re now forced to release this info along with the screenshot proof to keep people from putting us down on social media or on this evening’s show. We understand that putting this out is detrimental to our careers but our back is against the wall ok this and it was either this or let Tony Khan go on saying we no-showed.”
The Boys Thank The Fans
At the end of the post, The Boys expressed their gratitude to the fans and the members of the roster who reached out. They also encouraged everyone to enjoy ROH Supercard of Honor.
“We want to thank each and every fan who has reached out and made your voices heard as well as the locker took members who have reached out that know the truth as well. We hope you all still enjoy the show this evening for the sake of the wrestlers putting on their best and appreciate how much we’ve seen that people really care about two boys who were always considered replaceable.”
The post also includes screenshots of messages with management and travel.
WrestleZone will provide more information as it becomes available.
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