How Darby Allin was selected as CM Punk's first opponent in AEW
AEW President Tony Khan was a guest on a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. During the interview, he opened up about CM Punk's in-ring return at the All Out pay-per-view.
While speaking about Punk's first match in AEW, Khan gave fans an insight into how Darby Allin ended up being selected as The Best In The World's first opponent in the company:
"We started to talk and then we had to come up with wrestling ideas. He had that great list he put out of people he thought would be great opponents for him and of course, a very prominent name on that list was Darby Allin and Darby Allin in the past year has gotten as hot as any wrestler we have and I just thought it would be really cool and it made a lot of sense and I suggested it and he thought it was great," said Tony Khan.
Tony Khan says CM Punk's AEW debut exceeded his own expectations
Tony Khan also spoke about how CM Punk's AEW debut was a big moment not just for the promotion, but for himself personally as well as for Punk. Khan said that the latter had been looking forward to his debut for a long time and it had even exceeded The Best In The World's "high expectations":
"The more we talked, the more stuff fell into place and it ended up being a great moment for the company. It was great moment for me personally but I also think tt was for him personally a great moment that I know has brought him a lot of happiness and having talked to him for over a week since then, he was looking forward to this for a long time but even for him, it exceeded his high expectations," added Tony Khan.
During the interview with Wrestling Observer Radio, the AEW President also discussed what finally convinced CM Punk to sign with the company. You can check that out HERE.
If any quotes are used from this article please add a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling and credit Wrestling Observer Radio.