Tony Khan Comments On Addressing Chicago Crowd After CM Punk’s Firing, Felt Like He Owed It To Them To Explain

It has been a tumultuous couple of weeks regarding CM Punk. At AEW All In, Punk was involved in yet another backstage altercation. However, this one would be different than those in the past in various ways. Namely, Punk not only fought with Jack Perry, he also reportedly lunged at AEW president Tony Khan while furiously quitting the company.

These events would leave Khan no other choice but to fire the Chicago native with cause, despite Punk’s drawing power and status as the companies “real world’s champion”. Punk has yet to comment on the matter until now.

After these events and prior to AEW All Out and Collision in Chicago, Tony Khan would address the Chicago crowd prior to Collision and explained the situation. While he was initially booed, the crowd would begin cheering Khan by the end of his speech.

Speaking to Insider, Khan was asked about his decision to speak to the live crowd.

“Chicago is home to my family. I grew up in Champaign. I’ve been going to the United Center since it was first built when I was 11. My family was at the show, countless friends, everyone I grew up with. It meant a lot to go out and speak to the fans and be able to put on a great show,” he said.

When asked why did it from the ramp and not in the ring, Khan replied, “[Long pause.] You can’t see everybody’s face from the center of the ring. You have to choose one side of the crowd to face when you’re in the ring. And I wanted to be able to see everybody. I felt like, I’m not a wrestler and I don’t need to be in the ring, and for this moment, I thought I would just sit down and talk to everybody. That’s why I brought out a chair.

And when I was done and walked backstage, the first person I saw was Ricky Steamboat and he said, ‘That was great, you turned the crowd. You turned them around. That’s so hard to do, and you did it.’ I felt I at least owed that much to the wrestlers and the fans, to go out there and talk to everybody.”

Tony Khan

If you want to read more on recent CM Punk drama, you can check out our latest exclusive on him here.

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