"The least of a wrestling promoter's misdeeds" - Tony Khan opens up on CM Punk firing, takes cryptic jab
AEW President Tony Khan has his hands full this week as his company's flagship show, Dynamite, has been bumped to Tuesday night due to the MLB playoffs. Ahead of the show's clash with tonight's NXT, Khan found the time to speak with Dan Le Batard and addressed CM Punk's release, among other things.
CM Punk had a tumultuous run with All Elite Wrestling. The Straight Edge Superstar was suspended twice within a single year due to backstage altercations. This comes on top of the various injuries the 44-year-old suffered, which kept him out of action for long stretches.
After Punk's altercation with Jack Perry at August's All In pay-per-view, Tony Khan was left with little option but to fire him. Speaking on The Dan Le Batard Show, Khan said that it was a hard day for a lot of people:
"I have not really gone out and discussed that publicly beyond what I said in Chicago. I had to make a really hard decision after what happened and I really appreciate all the fans standing by us and support AEW through this. What happened back there was a really hard day for a lot of people. I don't want to make light of it. It was a really challenging circumstance. It was one of the most incredible things I've been through in wrestling. It was a really hard day at the office for a lot of people and the amazing thing is, we still came through and put a great show out under what were really challenging circumstances. It was important for everybody back there to get it together and have our best show, and we did it," he said.
Tony Khan has been somewhat cagey about the situation and has avoided disparaging the former AEW World Champion. When pressed, the All Elite chief noted, somewhat cryptically, that wrestling promoters have done far worse things than refuse to speak about a released star:
"There are far worse crimes than wrestling promoters than not talking about these kinds of backstage incidents. Believe me. Not talking about this thing would be the least of a wrestling promoter's misdeeds," said Tony Khan. [h/t Fightful]
Tony Khan and WWE have gone all out in promoting tonight's head-to-head clash
As noted above, AEW Dynamite will go head-to-head with WWE NXT tonight, and both companies seem to be throwing everything they have into one-upping each other.
WWE kicked things off with the shocking announcement that Cody Rhodes, John Cena, Paul Heyman, and Asuka will be present on tonight's episode of NXT. They followed it up by teasing The Undertaker, Jade Cargill, and announcing that the first 30 minutes of the show will be commercial-free.
Tony Khan struck back by securing a 10-minute overrun for Dynamite, matching NXT's commercial-free half-hour, and announcing that a pre-show would take place featuring Eddie Kingston vs. Minoru Suzuki. The All Elite Chief also spent his free time taking shots at Triple H and Shawn Michaels.
With Dynamite airing on Tuesday, the deck certainly seems stacked against AEW, but fans won't know how the two shows fare in the ratings battle until tomorrow.
Which show do you think will win the ratings war tonight? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!