Tony Khan On Why It Made Sense To Air Footage Of CM Punk’s Backstage Altercation At All In

CM Punk’s AEW departure has been a very hot topic in the wrestling world for months now as the former AEW World Champion was fired following a backstage altercation with Jack Perry that took place at the All In pay-per-view last year. AEW decided to air backstage footage of Punk’s altercation with Perry on Dynamite last week and the company tried to tie it in as part of a storyline involving The Young Bucks.

Tony Khan was asked if he regrets showing the footage during an appearance on The Chris Russel Show, and he explained why he thinks it made a lot of sense for AEW to air it on Dynamite.

“I think it made a lot of sense. First of all, the Young Bucks-FTR ladder match is coming up at AEW Dynasty for the World Tag Team Championships. This is the fourth chapter in FTR-Young Bucks. I believe they are the two greatest tag teams in wrestling, the two best on the planet. The last time they wrestled, Young Bucks-FTR 3, was at Wembley Stadium, AEW All In. A lot happened that day. Those guys at one point, they were the third match on the pay-per-view, and at one point, it looked like we were going to have to call them up and they were going to have to wrestle the first match. They ended up going on in the spot they were in, but the Young Bucks said the whole day, everything that happened, it affected their mental preparation, they weren’t able to pray before the match, they were very stressed out. They slipped on the banana peel, lost the match, and they blame FTR and what happened at Wembley Stadium. In hindsight, that’s why they refused to shake FTR’s hands.

We’ve seen the Young Bucks change a lot. We saw them get really dark during the retirement run of Sting. They’ve only gotten darker and more twisted. That’s why they felt like they should play the tape. It was fascinating to see after the tape played, the reaction Jack Perry got at New Japan. He got the reaction of a superstar. That is not altogether unexpected and it’s something very interesting, perhaps a side effect of this, Jack Perry already a big star in wrestling, really the way the crowd connected with him in Chicago, that was interesting. It leaves a lot of intriguing going into AEW Dynamite and AEW Dynasty.”

H/T Fightful