Eric Bischoff On When He Would Have Fired CM Punk From AEW
Multiple people have given their thought on AEW’s termination of CM Punk’s contract and now Eric Bischoff has done the same.
The wrestling world was stunned over this past weekend when AEW cut ties with Punk following the conclusion of an investigation into a backstage incident he had with Jack Perry.
As if the initial shock over Punk’s firing wasn’t enough, the manner in which Khan handled the situation garnered just as much attention.
Exact details on what happened remain unclear at this time, but from what has been revealed it is implied that Punk approached Tony Khan in an aggressive manner.
This caused Tony Khan to proclaim that he “feared for his life” and he believed that other non-wrestling staff members in the company were no longer safe wit Punk’s behavior.
Reactions to this entire situation have been mixed, with some people supporting Khan’s decision, others questioning CM Punk’s health, and others still ridiculing Khan’s response.
One person who has an interesting perspective on matters like this one is Eric Bischoff, a former executive in WCW who had similar authority when it came to dealing with recalcitrant talent.
Eric Bischoff would’ve fired CM Punk after AEW All Out 2022 media scrum
Although Bischoff already said that he supports Tony Khan’s decision, he dove further into the discussion by explaining what he would’ve done if he were in Khan’s shoes on an episode of his 83 Weeks podcast.
“I think it would’ve been better, in the long run, had Tony made this same decision months ago, when Punk had his meltdown at the press conference and made Tony look like a complete buffoon in the process.
I would’ve pulled the trigger then, had it been me, but it wasn’t me, and I wasn’t familiar with all the circumstances, all of the issues.”
Additionally, Bischoff made a key distinction between AEW leadership making a good decision and making the necessary decision.
“At some point, you need to be a leader, and sometimes being a leader is really painful, really painful, because there’s no good decision, there’s only a correct decision, and the correct decision was to let him go.
It’s going to sting, it’s going to be a little uncomfortable, probably in a lot of ways that aren’t obvious to us. But it had to be done. It wasn’t going to get better.
It wasn’t like Punk was going to wake up one day and decide to be a team player. It clearly wasn’t going to happen, so at one point do you just go ‘You know, I’ve had enough?’ And clearly, Tony had enough.”
h/t WrestlingInc.