Tony Khan is thankful for CM Punk in All Elite Wrestling.
During his post-show media scrum at AEW Double Or Nothing, Tony Khan was asked about when he knew CM Punk would be the next AEW World Champion. Khan previously said he had the first four AEW champions planned out, and he was asked when he knew Punk was the fifth.
“We got very close in the pandemic and then as soon as, I think there was a point where there were no fans in the seats still, but we were really tight. And then things came together, and The First Dance lined up. And it was like this miraculous thing that the United Center was available right before All Out, like within a month if when we came back about a month and a half when we first returned to the road. And it was exactly what he wanted and I think I knew he could do it. I knew he could do it and what would happen. And I always said to you guys from the beginning, this isn’t some Hollywood bullsh-t comeback,” Tony Khan said. “He’s here every week and nobody works harder than CM Punk in this company and nobody’s done more for this company in the last year than CM Punk has. So I think in the pandemic I could foresee that. From the very beginning, you [Punk] wanted to see if this thing got off the ground.
“[Punk] didn’t want to be a Guinea pig in this thing from the very beginning. And you came in at a time when the company had taken steps. And then I think when you and I got to know each other in the pandemic, I think it opened up and created a chance for us, we had a lot of time at home to start talking on the phone a lot and became friends. And so I think that created an opportunity. We just didn’t know when the fans would come back. But the fans have made this so special, from the First Dance,” Tony Khan noted, “the first moment he walked out is one of the great moments in wrestling. Tonight is such a great moment and what I would add is from the very beginning of the company, I knew that if we had CM Punk, along with the people we got, I wanted him from day one, but when he finally came, it’s been the best stuff we’ve ever done. Like I was saying, the financial. But it’s not just about the financial, it’s about the people. And we’ve never been in a better place, so thank you.”
CM Punk then spoke about the timeline of his return and how it was very much by design. Punk said that he’s been telling stories about the past, but now the title win signals his move into the future.
“Yes. It’s very much by design. Come back, get your feet wet. Show that you can still hang. Do a bunch of callbacks. Kind of catch people up to speed about stuff they might have seen. It’s a happy accident that Tony Khan bought Ring of Honor at the same time, so it’s a great advertisement for that company. And I think MJF growing up a CM Punk fan was such a big part of that, that we got to tell that story,” Punk pointed out, “[and] not just a nostalgic way. We got to tell it through the eyes of a kid who grew up watching it and different perspective. It’s just pretty super interesting to me that we got to tell that perspective and tell that story. And it’s just different chapters. And now this [title win] is just the next chapter. And that was about the past. And this is about the future, and I’m excited to tell that story.”
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