Tony Khan Makes Surprising Claim About CM Punk Incident
Tony Khan thinks footage of CM Punk’s altercation with Jack Perry helped AEW.
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.
In the footage, Punk approaches Perry backstage and they exchange words before Punk tries to get hold of him, only for Samoa Joe to get involved. Punk then gets into a verbal altercation with someone off camera believed to be Tony Khan.
The incident ultimately resulted in Punk being fired by the company, while Perry was suspended.
Tony Khan Has No Regrets
During a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales looked back on the biggest wrestling stories of 2024. This naturally brought them to Tony Khan’s decision to air the footage of the confrontation between Punk and Perry.
When asked whether he felt in hindsight Khan might acknowledge the decision was a mistake, Meltzer said Khan has told him that it was actually key to securing AEW’s media rights deal with Warner Bros Discovery.
“I have discussed this with him. You have no idea how much… it’s always the same thing that he believes that that was a key to getting that deal. So I will tell you, I mean, in every discussion, there is not even a thought in his mind that he made a mistake there.”
Meltzer added that if what Khan says is true, then he made the right call, but he has his own reservations.
“But I, you know, certainly didn’t think long term it was the right thing, even though, yes, it did help make Jack Perry a star. I just didn’t think it was positive for the company in the big picture.”
CM Punk will be back in action on January 6th when Monday Night Raw premieres on Netflix. Also on the show, Roman Reigns meets Solo Sikoa, while Liv Morgan will put her Women’s World Title on the line against Rhea Ripley.
Meanwhile, it’s been reported that CM Punk could face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 41 after WWE moved away from its original plans for both men.
H/t to WrestlingNews.Co