Mike Mansury has opened up about the journey that has led him to AEW after working as Vice President of Global Television Production for WWE and is now working in AEW as a co-Executive Producer and Senior Production Executive.
He did so when appearing on The Sessions with Renee Paquette. It started off with the end of his time in WWE.
Leaving WWE
He explained that it was inferred that he was going to be the successor to Kevin Dunn and while he was praised for his work, they didn’t know what to do with him until they figured out what Dunn’s future was.
“I knew that there was more that I was capable of but I had already excelled at everything they allowed me to do at that point. I was looking for that new challenge and even if it was something that were outside of the scope of what people would have defined as my potential, it would have been nice to be able to kind of spread wings a little bit and take on a new challenge so, once I kind of realized I was in the lane that I was in and the path to the destination wasn’t really gonna change or even progress that much, I knew it was time to make a change.”
The Decision
He decided to leave WWE in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic started. After giving them his notice, they offered him the opportunity to rescind his resignation. While he appreciated the offer, felt that if he did not give notice and bow out then, he would never do it.
“I remember I had gone back up to Stamford and they had offered me the opportunity to rescind my resignation and I was beyond appreciative of it but you know, I told them, I said, ‘Look, I know we’re heading into uncertain times but if I don’t do this, I’m never gonna do it and I need to.’
AEW Talks
Mansury dove into his talks with AEW and how joining the promotion came about. It happened when Mike and his wife were in Singapore as they moved to the country for his job with ONE Championship MMA.
Mansury felt it was not the right time, and AEW already had a solid team with Keith Mitchell at the helm, but Mitchell retired from his role months after those talks.
“I don’t think they knew Keith was gonna wind up retiring a couple months later. But a lot of folks on the AEW side that we had known from WWE had spoken to Tony [Khan] a lot and had talked to me about coming down and just checking things out and just saying hello. But ultimately, you know, ONE was the new home.”
Things picked back up again as the two sides began talking over the summer between Mansury, Tony Khan and Chief Legal Officer Megha Parekh. They expressed to Mansury that they feel AEW is ready to break into their next level and he felt like there was some unfinished business.
“I don’t know that I left wrestling feeling fulfilled. I think when I left the WWE, I was burned out at that point and I was frustrated.”
H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription
