Tony Khan understands that people will want to hear from CM Punk upon his AEW return.
CM Punk has been absent from All Elite Wrestling for nine months now, ever since his triceps injury during the All Out main event and controversial comments in the post-show media scrum. However, on the May 31 edition of Dynamite, Tony Khan announced that the Chicago-born star will be making his return to the company on the debut edition of AEW: Collision, the company’s new Saturday show beginning on June 17.
Of course, a lot has transpired since the last time AEW fans saw Punk on their TV screens, including tension between himself and other members of the roster. Many viewers may be hoping to hear from CM Punk upon his re-emergence on AEW programming and, speaking with John Pollock and Brandon Thurston for POST Wrestling, Tony Khan has acknowledged that people will want to hear from CM Punk, especially given who he is sharing the ring with this Saturday night.
“It’s a great point. I think people are gonna want to hear from CM Punk, and people are gonna want to see him get involved in big matches and jump into big stories. I think definitely the rivalry between CM Punk and Samoa Joe, very interesting. We’ve seen a budding rivalry with FTR against a number of top teams in AEW, but I think with them having retained the championship at Double or Nothing and with Jay White coming off such a huge win, and Jay White and Juice Robinson as a team being fed hot, we saw they had a run-in with FTR a few weeks ago. I felt like that also planted another seed for this match. Certainly though, people are always gonna go back to that rivalry between CM Punk and Samoa Joe. People have been talking about it, even before Samoa Joe arrived in AEW, and not long after that, CM Punk got injured. I do think this match is a huge main event, and people are gonna be very interested to see what happens. It’s very exciting for us to be able to put this match on the first episode of Collision on Saturday,”
-Tony Khan
When directly asked whether Punk will have mic time on the debut episode of Collision, Khan didn’t confirm the plan but did admit that it would make a lot of sense to have him speak in the build up to his main event match.
“I don’t want to say too much yet. I do think it would make a lot of sense, though, and I know fans are gonna be excited to hear from CM Punk. Obviously that match is in the main event, so that does leave us the opportunity in the lead-up to the show to do that. I have to admit it would make a lot of sense,”
-Tony Khan
Fans are looking forward to the former AEW World Champion’s return match, where he teams with FTR to take on ROH Television Champion Samoa Joe alongside Bullet Club Gold members Jay White and Juice Robinson.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any updates on the plan’s for CM Punk on AEW Collision as we hear more.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
