Tony Khan admits he had been in talks with CM Punk for quite a while.
When CM Punk arrived in AEW, it was the worst kept secret. AEW intended for it to be that way, dropping hints of Punk’s arrival for weeks. When Punk made his appearance on the second episode of Rampage, the crowd inside the United Center in Chicago, Illinois came unglued.
During an interview with the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Khan revealed that he had been speaking to CM Punk for years.
“We’ve been talking a really long time, and a few years ago, it just wasn’t the right time. I think he wanted to see how this thing went. He wasn’t ready to come back to wrestling, especially not for a startup company. Now we’re long past the startup phase. It’s been really successful. We signed a big TV extension and I think once we got the extension and it looked like we were going to be in place for a while, it probably made the company look a lot more like a stable option for CM Punk, honestly.”
Punk is set to have his first match since 2014. He’ll share the ring with Darby Allin on the All Out PPV event. It’ll be held inside the Now Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois on Sept. 5.
