5 Reasons CM Punk Was WORTH The Trouble To AEW (... & 5 He Wasn't)

For all the hair pulling, biting, black eyes and dislodged dog teeth, no one came out of All Out’s backstage brawl worse than Tony Khan. From the moment Punk started ranting and raving in the post-show scrum, a collective thought went around the wrestling community: this would never happen to Vince McMahon.

There’s a sprawling list of criticisms one could and should launch at the WWE boss, but failure to control his people isn’t one of them. A more authoritative boss might have sensed which way the wind was blowing as soon as Punk began his screed, shut down the conference, and saved everyone a whole lot of trouble.

Or, fired the loose cannon wrestler then and there. Or, found a more definitive solution to the simmering tension than just keeping the warring factions apart. Or, kept a tighter lid on Punk post-return, and so on and so forth.

Khan’s decision to fire Punk was not before time, and has been met with support, give or take a Chicago crowd. The message is out, though: if you want to behave like a knob and be paid handsomely for your time, AEW is the place to be.