Tony Khan Breaks His Silence On CM Punk (AEW News)
Tony Khan discusses CM Punk's time with AEW.
With a wide variety of topics covered, one of the biggest talking points coming out of AEW President Tony Khan's appearance live in studio with Ariel Helwani yesterday was Khan discussing CM Punk and the decision to air the infamous All In 2023 footage of Punk's backstage altercation with Jack Perry.
For those unaware, one of the reasons why that CCTV footage aired on an April 2024 episode of Dynamite was in response to CM Punk appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show, where he gave his recollection of what happened with Perry at Wembley Stadium. Those comments were soon followed by AEW airing the footage of that confrontation, which, while it garnered a lot of attention and drew a good rating, largely backed up what Punk had said; he and Jack exchanged heated words in the Gorilla position, those words began to turn physical, Punk put Jack in a choke, Samoa Joe helped break things up, and then Punk can be seen shouting at somebody off-camera.
Explaining his decision to air that altercation, Tony Khan said that he didn't agree with CM Punk's description of that incident, highlighted how that particular episode of AEW Dynamite did "a very strong number", and that what played out at All In 2023 was "in the eye of the beholder".
When asked specifically if there's anything he wanted to refute about Punk's comments, Khan said, "I think the tape speaks for itself", and that the incident was "a major part of why things were no longer able to continue with us, even though I would have liked to have been able to". Tony also pointed to the creation of AEW Collision - which was originally treated as a soft brand split away from Dynamite - as showing how it was "clear" that he wanted to "reconcile."
On CM Punk's role in AEW, Tony Khan discussed the "great times" the company had when the Second City Saint was there, but he likewise pointed out the great run AEW was on before CM Punk, and the great run the promotion is in the midst of right now, noting that the AEW roster is better than it's ever been. That All In issue, and the fallout from it, wasn't the first time that Tony and Punk had "disagreed about something", but "that's okay". Khan "wanted to find a way for everybody to be able to work together, and that didn't work."
On the recent WWE-posted image from the latest Saturday Night's Main Event, showing CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Jade Cargill, and Ricky Saints - all former AEW talent - with their respective WWE titles, Khan didn't comment too much, bar comparing that picture to an old one of Cody and Jon Moxley doing posing together with the AEW TNT Title and the AEW World Title, respectively.
In a wide-ranging, lengthy interview, Tony Khan was asked about - and, to his credit, largely addressed - WWE's counterprogramming tactics, the WWE and TNA partnership, the future of talents such as Chris Jericho, Britt Baker, and Adam Cole, the status of Andrade El Idolo, and working with Miro during the Redeemer's mixed bag of a run with AEW.