Tony Khan Reveals Why He’s Been Holding CM Punk Back In AEW

Fans waited 7 long years for CM Punk to return to professional wrestling, and he finally made his comeback when he joined AEW back in August. Punk’s return was a big moment for the wrestling world, but some people have been critical in regards to how the former WWE Champion has been booked over the last few months.

While speaking with Wade Keller of PWTorch.com AEW President Tony Khan opened up about his approach with Punk and he noted that he’s intentionally holding him back while CM Punk builds up a winning streak.

“He’s only scratching the surface. I have intentionally [for CM Punk] tried to hold back a lot of these marquee things; biggest marquee matches and stories. I’m very excited going forward for Full Gear to see them [Punk vs. Eddie Kingston] lock horns. I believe that’s a match fans want to see, and we’ve been getting CM Punk reintegrated by building the winning streak. I think it’s worked great.”

Khan also praised Punk while saying that there’s been an “unquestionable lift” in AEW’s numbers since he joined the company.

“Our numbers are so much better than they were, you know, going into the last few months and there’s been an unquestionable lift since CM Punk came in. For some reason I see people trying to discredit punk all the time that he hasn’t been a huge lift to our business.”

CM Punk will face Eddie Kingston at Full Gear on November 13. Stay tuned for updates.