"He’s been a big draw for us" - Tony Khan calls former WWE World Champion very important to AEW
Since the infamous brawl at All Out last year, Tony Khan was cagey about CM Punk's future with AEW in his interviews and press conferences.
But that changed last week when the president finally announced the blockbuster return of The Straight Edge Superstar. He will be heading to the renowned United Center in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois, for the premiere of Collision on June 17.
The nature of Punk's role was unknown until last night on AEW Dynamite, which saw Khan announce the main event for the debut episode of Collision.
The Second City Saint will return to join forces with FTR to take on his fierce rival Samoa Joe and The Bullet Club Gold (Jay White & Juice Robinson) in a trios bout.
As Punk gears up for his first match in nine months, the head honcho has started hyping up the Second Coming of CM Punk.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso, Tony Khan talked about how important and big of a draw CM Punk is to AEW:
"We haven’t seen CM Punk in a long time, since All Out last September. He looked great in his last match. To the fans, he’s very important. He’s very important to the company, too. He’s been a big draw for us and historically throughout his career, and the launch of the new show happens to line up with the schedule on his rehab of his triceps injury," Khan said.
Tony Khan further divulged who was the brainchild of Collision:
“We have an amazing opportunity with AEW on Saturday nights on TNT, starting June 17, and it was truly the brainchild of [Warner Bros. Discovery CEO and president] David Zaslav. He asked about more AEW, specifically Saturday nights, on TNT. When it was pitched to us by TNT, I was so excited. It’s so exciting the timing [of Punk’s return from injury] coincides with the launch of Collision," he added.
It’s official: the main event for the debut episode of #AEWCollision will be @SamoaJoe @jaywhitenz #JuiceRobinson vs. #AEW World Tag Team Champs #FTR @daxftr @CashWheelerFTR & @CMPunk!
Watch #AEWCollision LIVE on Saturday, June 17th at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TNT! https://t.co/MooCffF4HQ
Brody King has a message for CMFTR ahead of their highly-anticipated reunion at AEW Collision
Brody King of The House of Black took to Twitter to call out CM Punk and FTR after Tony Khan booked them in the main event of Collision.
King wrote that CMFTR is 'too scared' to face the reigning world trios champions, subsequently teasing a possible feud between the two factions:
"You're too scared to face the real smoke," King tweeted.
You’re too scared to face the real smoke . twitter.com/DaxFTR/status/…
The House of Black has dominated the entire trios division since knocking The Elite off their perch at Revolution. With the stable running out of legitimate opponents, it would be interesting to see if CMFTR steps up to them to stake their claim at the gold.