NEWSLETTER
With the Chicago Bears done drafting, I figured I had time for a weird football story.
Kayfabe, for those who don’t know, is a portrayal of industry business as being real but are part of a staged part of wrestling. Like when factions are rivalries. Or when Vince McMahon’s limousine exploded on a 2007 episode of Monday Night Raw. Sometimes, the lines between what’s real and not are blurry. And when you get caught up with your suspension of disbelief, it makes the world of professional wrestling that much more fun to dive into in times like these.
With that being said, kudos to the folks at AEW for making me do a double-take when I looked up at my screen and saw Jaguars executive Tony Khan in a neck brace. And fist bumps to the Awful Announcing team for capturing the moment when NFL Network’s Rich Eisen helped us break the fourth wall:
As someone who obsessively watches injury reports on a weekly basis, I wonder if there are Jacksonville Jaguars who saw the clip above and don’t know any better.
Imagine being a Jaguars player seeing this…
… and then realizing that Tony Khan, who has the title of Chief Football Strategy Officer with the Jaguars in addition to being the owner of the All Elite Wrestling promotion, is still showing up to work NFL Draft weekend after taking that beating on Wednesday. Are you more likely to suit up and play through some bumps and bruises because Khan did? Maybe. Possibly. I can’t say no. After all, there were people who thought Vince McMahon’s limo actually blew up. So you can’t rule it out.
In the end, that’s quite the sell job by Khan. And it is going to end up being a charitable one, too, as Khan has promised to donate the neck brace (h/t Cageside Seats) he is wearing on draft weekend in an effort to support Rich Eisen’s fundraising efforts for St. Jude. I want to end this post saying something along the lines of all is well that ends well, but I know that’s easy for me to say as someone who didn’t take a pile-driver before hunkering down to deliver NFL Draft coverage all weekend.
