Tony Khan is said to have been interested in building a wrestling promotion with CM Punk long before he began working with the Elite. It never materialized, however, and neither did a deal to bring Punk to AEW once the promotion had been created.
On a recent episode of his podcast, Konnan addressed the reason CM Punk didn’t join AEW.
“I do remember when I was negotiating with AEW and they were telling me about him, they were telling me that he was asking for like (an) astronomical amount of money,” Konnan said on the show. “They really wanted to work with him but…”
“I’m sure if they wanted to do something with him and Jericho or him and Cody, I’m sure they could,” Konnan continued. “Like I said, from what they told me, he was just asking for way too much. And this is a company that is willing to spend, so who knows what he was asking for?”
Did the UFC and WWE Backstage Hurt CM Punk’s Potential Drawing Power in Wrestling?
Disco Inferno and others on the podcast felt that Punk’s drawing power has decreased recently. They noted that he did not draw big ratings for WWE Backstage. They also noted that his drawing power in wrestling was hurt by his 2 fights in the UFC. Konnan disagreed with this sentiment, however.
“I don’t think that he’s damaged irreparably,” Konnan said. “I think if he was in a real good storyline and the type of promos he can cut, people would get behind it but I don’t think that joining AEW right now is going to mean anything. Timing is a lot of everything.”
