Tony Khan details inspiration for creating Interim AEW World Championship as a separate entity
Tony Khan recently gave an insight into his inspiration for including the Interim AEW World Championship in his promotion.
Current AEW World Champion CM Punk has been unable to compete since June due to a foot injury he suffered during a match against Hangman Page. At Forbidden Door, Jon Moxley defeated Tanahashi to become the Interim AEW World Champion. Earlier this month, the promotion had added Moxley to their roster page, seemingly considering the Interim title as a separate entity.
This week on Dynamite Quake by the Lake, Punk returned to break up a brawl that broke out after the main event of the show. He then confronted a displeased Jon Moxley, a few weeks before the All Out pay-per-view which is set to take place in Chicago.
In a recent conversation with The Walkway to Fight Club, Tony Khan stated that he was inspired by the UFC where an Interim Champion was crowned when a fighter was injured and unable to compete.
"UFC is where I learned it," Khan said. "They've had great success with the Interim Championship because in wrestling and UFC people get hurt and you'll see in AEW or UFC there's been a few occasions where we've had a champion that was out for extended periods of time so it makes sense to crown an Interim Champion." (12:35 - 12:53)
The AEW President added that the differentiation between the titles was enabled for a potential unification match in the future.
"It sets up a big unification match as we've seen in AEW and as they've had great success as an industry leader in UFC so I think, in boxing it's a practice that's been accepted also and for us it's really, it's worked before very well and now is probably the most high profile example of it in AEW's history." (12:54 - 13:19)
Check out the entire interaction below:
Tony Khan addressed the reason for AEW seemingly lagging behind in recent months
The promotion has garnered prominent names from the industry and independent promotions since its inception in 2019.
In the same interaction with The Walkway to Fight Club, Tony Khan talked about the alterations that had to be done for matches at Forbidden Door. Many high-profile AEW stars like Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson suffered injuries which led to them them being unavailable for the pay-per-view.
"A lot of the big names are coming back. Bryan Danielson's back in action and you know, his last match had a shocking ending and I think that has kept people wondering what's next for Bryan Danielson in the ring. But we have so many great stars that have been away from AEW, and what we have been able to do this summer is really special. A lot of plans changed going into Forbidden Door, and that's why things were a little all over the place going in to the show," added Tony Khan.
Justified “This is awesome!” chants for @JonMoxley vs #Lionheart @IAmJericho for the @AEW Interim World Championship in this incredible main event on Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite LIVE on @TBSNetwork TONIGHT!
Thank you to everyone watching @AEWonTV tonight!
The American Dragon is set to make his in-ring return on Rampage this week. However, with the return of the reigning AEW World Champion, it is yet to be seen what All Elite Wrestling has in store for him.
Would you like to see CM Punk face Jon Moxley for the unification of the AEW World titles? Sound off in the comments below.
While using quotes from this article, please add a H/T to Sportskeeda and credit The Walkway to Fight Club.