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When Tony Khan publically fired CM Punk with cause via a press release, a public announcement for the fans in Chicago, and a recorded one for everyone else a few moments later, it effectively created an inflection point in AEW's history.
For some, namely those fans and wrestlers who are incredibly loyal to Punker, the move put a serious damper on their desires to continue to engage with AEW content moving forward, as firing one of the best performers of his generation while “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry remains employed – albeit under a suspension – while others, like Chris Jericho, now feel as though the locker room has lost one of its biggest antagonists, and the remaining AEW stars can push forward as a unified bunch.
Discussing what happened in borderline real time as he watched everything transpired from AEW All In to Dynamite, and finally Collision, when the news was ultimately dropped, Sammy Guevara provided fans with some insight into how Khan went about his business and how his honesty and professionalism earned him a ton of respect with the boys in the back.
“Tony, I feel, doesn’t get enough credit he deserves. He, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes. They all changed everyone’s life and wrestling. Without them, especially Tony, there would be no AEW. There would be a bunch of people doing something completely different. I don’t know anything regarding the behind-the-scenes decisions he makes, but he is such a caring guy. What I will say is that he has a lot of balls. I have a lot of respect for him. He went out in front of the Chicago crowd to address them personally after he made the decision to let Punk go. He didn’t have to go in front of everyone. He could have just played the video. But he went out in front of thousands of people. He is getting booed. He understood how they felt. He is an upfront guy,” Sammy Guevara told TV Insider.
“I watched him make the announcement thinking, ‘Wow, he doesn’t have to do this.” I get it from a wrestling fan’s perspective. You went to the show expecting to see someone, and now this guy is telling you he isn’t going to be there. It’s almost like killing the messenger. But when you think about it, this man did not need to go out there. He could have easily also had someone else do it. Mad respect. I told him that too. I told him he had a lot of balls for him to do that. He said, ‘It had to be done, and I had to be the one to do it.' He wasn’t going to get the heat on any of the boys or anyone that night. He wanted to take the heat, which I thought was commendable.”
Will everyone agree with Khan's decision to fire CM Punk? No, probably not, but hey, the professionalism TK brought to his decision earned him some more respect from fans and wrestlers alike, which, all things considered, is a small victory in arguably one of the defining decisions in AEW history.
Samoa Joe provides his insight into CM Punk's final days in AEW.
While doing his part in promoting AEW Grand Slam to the New York market, Samoa Joe provided his insight into what went down in the back of Wembley Stadium in an attempt to provide fans with a tad bit more clarity on the events preceding his match.
Though he didn't want to spill the beans too much, Joe noted that in the moment, all he wanted to do was put on a show for the fans in attendance, and to his credit, he did just that.
“For the most part, I haven’t read what’s been portrayed. There’s been so much said. I’m not the one to go out there and try to debunk everything. I know we had the initial incident. Everybody rallied. Everybody got together. Got their heads together and lined up and got ready to do the show, and we went out there, and we did the show,” Samoa Joe told the New York Post.
“That really was the focus at that point in time. We got a massive show to do, and we got fans out there rabid to see that happen. So it’s important that we step up and do it, and it’s important that we did, and I was proud to be a part of that.”
Asked if he thought the match delivered elsewhere in the interview, Joe said it did, noting that it was a good addition to his long-standing storyline with Punk.
“I’ve always enjoyed the many minutes I’ve spent in the ring with Punk, and to be able to revisit that at this point in our careers was a big thing for us both personally,” Joe noted. “It was good to get back in there and scrap around with him a bit and entertain a ton of people in the process.”
Will fans ever get to see CM Punk and Samoa Joe in a wrestling ring again? In AEW, probably not, but hey, who expected to see it even one year back? In professional wrestling, you can never say never.
