Tony Khan Received Call From TBS After Airing CM Punk Fight Footage
Tony Khan says TV ratings are the most important kind of feedback.
On the April 10th episode of AEW Dynamite The Young Bucks showed footage of what really happened between CM Punk and Jack Perry at All In.
The move was reportedly in response to negative comments made by Punk in an earlier where he addressed the incident. No matter the motivation, the decision to air the footage divided fans and only gave the ratings for AEW Dynamite a relatively small boost.
During the AEW Dynasty media call, Khan was asked by Dominic D’Angelo about fan reaction to the footage. The AEW boss responded by saying he’d been praised by TBS for doing a good job.
“After the ratings came in, it felt like, when TBS called me and told me ‘good job.’ You have to remember, I’m responsible for everybody’s job in the company. It is really important for us to please the network and TBS was really happy with that show and that performance. That is the most important.
Our fan feedback on the show, the rating is the number one source of fan feedback in the end, the network, and they were incredibly pleased. It was 400,000 viewers in the 18 to 49 demographic, and that was a strong performance. That is how TBS judges the show. How TBS judges the show is the most important metric I have for the performance.
I do think what we did last week added a lot of intrigue to this match and I’m very excited for the Dynasty pay-per-view and I’m very happy about how we got here.”
Tony Khan Says Airing CM Punk Footage “Made A Lot Of Sense”
The comments come shortly after Tony Khan defended showing the fight in a different interview, claiming it added to the upcoming match between FTR and The Young Bucks.
Rather than addressing the decision directly, Khan stuck to kayfabe and said the backstage incident at All In meant The Bucks weren’t able to properly prepare for their match against Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler.
The two teams will meet in a Ladder Match at AEW Dynasty on April 21st.
H/t to Fightful