Here’s the Jags first-round Draft pick being asked about Tony Khan’s AEW angle

To the delight of kayfabe-keepers everywhere, AEW owner, president & head of creative Tony Khan wore a neck brace to the NFL Draft last night (April 25) in Detroit.

Khan, who also serves as an executive for the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL franchise owned by his father Shad, was selling the effects of a piledriver variant he took from The Elite’s Matthew & Nicholas Jackson on Dynamite the night before. It created some unexpected and hilarious scenes as the mainstream media explained why TK was wearing the brace, and gave ESPN & WWE’s The Pat McAfee Show an opportunity to critique Tony’s acting skills.

Turns out the awkward/funny moments about Khan’s commitment to the bit weren’t restricted to talking heads and pundits, as Raw‘s color commentator wasn’t the only person to say the words “Meltzer Driver” (one of the names the move Khan took goes by) at the Draft. A reporter asked Jags first round pick Brian Thomas, Jr. about TK, and the young wide receiver from LSU understandably seems pretty bewildered by the question:

Reporter: Tony Khan was, uh, attacked by The Elite the other night, and he was given a Meltzer Driver, and tonight he had to be in the Draft Room with a neck brace. So would you like to send any well-wishes to him? Because clearly it seems like he was very devastated and injured from this Meltzer Driver.

Thomas Jr.: Hope you’re good. Hope you shake back from your injury and, uh, speedy recovery.

Props to the 21 year old from Louisiana, who just had one of the biggest dreams every football player has come true for him, for handling this like a pro despite clearly having no idea who The Elite are or what a Meltzer Driver is.

As for TK’s angle with The Elite? It may not have produced immediate wrestling results, but it definitely got a lot of mainstream attention during one of the most followed sports-related events of the year. Will that turn into more viewers for AEW’s shows, or just more internet attention for the company and its head honcho?

We shall see.