Here is your full recap from CM Punk and Tony Khan’s post-AEW Rampage media scrum.
– Tony Khan starts the show, but immediately hands the reigns over to CM Punk.
Q – What are the details on what you’ve [CM Punk] signed on to do with AEW?
A – “I don’t really know if you want to know how the sausage is made, one of the appeals of here in AEW is everyone shows up, looking to have a good time. You don’t want to know the details of my contract, you just know that I’m here. It’s not a part-time thing, and I’m here to have fun, I’m here to help if anyone wants help.”
– Tony Khan then confirms it isn’t a short-time or part-time deal, this will be full-time.
Q – What was it like when you heard that reaction? How hard was it not to tear up?
A – “I did tear up, I teared up a lot. I thought I was going to cry more than I did. But, it’s very emotional, you think ‘do these people care?’ And, if they do care, do they care because I’m from here. It felt like a real moment, and I didn’t want to really think too much about what I was going to say, because I legitimately needed to go out there and feel that, and then… I knew I was going to know what I needed to say, what I had to do, once I was out there.”
Q – What changed? Where did the switch flip?
A – “I’ll go ahead and spoil that, I’ve been speaking to Tony for probably a year and a half about this. Some girls are easy to get into bed, I am not. I need to be wined and dined. That’s not a I need more money and less dates, I need this and that. It was literally just talking to Tony and getting to know him, and the more people that he employed that I knew, I’d ask questions and they’d tell me things. I’ve been in the game for a few minutes, so I’ve seen since the downfall of ECW, every six months to a year somebody pops up ‘I have money, we’re gonna have TV, we’re gonna use all these ECW guys’, this is not a slight on Tony at all, more a slight on me being me, being paranoid, neurotic, anxiety-ridden, very careful person. And, I wasn’t in a hurry, and the pandemic helped that out. I knew I couldn’t debut if there was no people in the building. I always say timing is everything, and there was a lot of happy accidents along the way that made this possible.”
Q – Punk, what went through your mind right before you stepped out on that entranceway tonight?
A – “I’ve been telling everybody all day, and all week that I was extremely nervous, and I was. Eddie Kingston was like ‘what are you talking about?’, because I’m nervous, I haven’t been on the bike in a minute. Being nervous is an extremely good thing, because I have been a part of moments like that – maybe not as big as that as that was a pretty big moment – where I didn’t care at all. I wanted to be anywhere else. So, being nervous meant that I cared, and I was emotional walking out on that stage, knowing that ‘hey man this is fun and I love this again’, because I’m a lifelong wrestling fan. If you set something free and it comes back to you, then that’s true love.”
Q – From a physical aspect how have you [CM Punk] been getting ready for what you are going to be doing in two weeks? [Facing Darby Allin at All Out]
A – “This is probably going to sound terrible, but I haven’t really been doing anything different. I haven’t been doing dedicated in-ring training. I’ve been working out in my basement, so I’m in better shape for when I’m publicly in my underwear again. I think in the best way, this is like riding a bike. I want it to be authentic, I don’t want to try to do stuff that I never did, I don’t wanna try to learn any new tricks, I want people to be like ‘oh he’s still the same dude’. I’m sure I’ll get in the ring between now and when I have to get in the ring with these younger guys but let’s be honest, I’ve got a bump card, I’m not going to get into a ring and take a bunch of bumps. I will run the ropes though.”
Q – How did this moment compare to that Money in the Bank moment in 2011?
A – “This felt more organic. Every thing I did prior to being here felt like a fight, and it kinda squeezed the life out of some stuff. This was a joyful moment that was just… it didn’t need to get over-produced, it didn’t need everybody’s input, it needed a few select people’s input, and just an understanding that it’s pro-wrestling, we don’t need to slick it up, and lather it, and shine it up too much. It needed to be real. So, to compare the two moments, this one did not feel like a job.”
Q – Why is this the right time for you to step back into the ring? And who was responsible for the ice-cream bars at the AEW Rampage show?
A – “The ice-cream bars were me [Punk]. I used to do it all the time when I would do Q&A’s at like comic-cons and stuff like that, I would bring people donuts or pizza. And, these ice-cream bars to me represent an idea, an idea that was gift-wrapped didn’t bother to take the time to understand their audience. This [waves an ice-cream bar] is the easiest home-run I’ve ever hit, and this is a legit thank you. Jon Lester came to the Chicago Cubs and won us a World Series. When he got traded away, he opened up a tab at a bunch of bars as a way to say thank you to the fans, this is my way of saying thank you to the fans. This is personal for me, and timing is everything. When I left Ring of Honor I did not want to go, but I felt I could not stay. And, you can’t really explain that to people, it’s just something you live through. When I was sick and tired, and hurt, I realised these people [WWE] wouldn’t care if I died today. There would be another show tomorrow, and I knew I needed to remove myself from the situation. I didn’t know how long it was going to take for me to heal, and then this came along. And, credit to everyone here in AEW, it reminded me of places I used to work which I loved, where it was more about the spirit of things. And this, instead of it feeling like a house, it felt like a home. And that’s the best way I can possibly describe it.”
– Awkward moment as both CM Punk and AEW’s Tony Khan have to wait as someone struggles to un-mute their mic. They move onto the next question for the time being. The next person has the same issue so CM Punk and Khan pass the time making some jokes. CM Punk and Khan move on to the next person again.
Q – CM Punk have you watched much of AEW Dark/ AEW Dark: Elevation? How would you feel about working some of those shows, maybe doing commentary?
A – [Before Punk can answer, Tony Khan shakes his head at him working the shows. Nods in a thoughtful fashion at the idea of commentary.] “Did you [Khan] just shake your head? I’m pretty sure I’m going to be a television guy, but I don’t rule anything out. I haven’t seen Dark or Elevation. Me and a couple of my friends were talking about this earlier, I am not a technology guy. So when people are like ‘oh YouTube’, I regrettably don’t know anything about YouTube. I still, watch DVDs. It’s a different generation now, I’m Terry Funk now. Now that I’m here, and we’ve got this first one out of the way – I’m going to watch everything. But, I haven’t thus far, that doesn’t mean I won’t do it.”
Q – The first thing you did CM Punk was set up a match with one of AEW’s rising stars. How did the match against Darby Allin come about? And how are you preparing?
A – “I actually want to backtrack, I haven’t been in a ring in seven years, the first thing I did was mention Britt Baker. I think this needs to be paid attention to, this is how you get talent over. I think Britt’s great, I think everybody here is great if I could have name-dropped everybody I would have, but that’s what popped into my head. The Darby thing came about, it was this guy’s idea [gestures to Tony Khan], we were just kicking around ideas. I made a list on a Twitter QnA, a year or a year and a half ago. It was like ‘hey CM Punk, who do you see that you would like to work with?’ and it was all young guys that I saw potential in, and Darby was one of them. So I think that was kind of the nucleus of the idea, and he’s already grown leaps and bounds since that tweet, so it kinda made sense. I think if I was a kid, and I saw Darby Allin he’d be my favourite wrestler, because I wasn’t a jock, I was a skateboard kid. He does things that I’m obsessed with, like his dive – I don’t want to take it though, because it looks painful. But, it just looks like it fits. I can’t explain sometimes, you just get a feeling about a situation or people, and a lot of it makes sense.”
Q – CM Punk, you mentioned some happy accident earlier. What does that mean exactly with regards to you being in AEW?
A – When I say happy accident, I mean nothing was forced you know? It was very relaxed, I don’t even want to call it a negotiation. It was like one of those things when you’re talking to somebody, and you both say the same thing at the same time, and you’re like ‘yeah that’s it’. This doesn’t have to be as hard as some people will tell you it needs to be. And, what I have observed, especially after being here today, is nobody is standing on their own d*ck. They just let stuff happen, because again it’s pretty simple and, it’s pretty straightforward. When it’s right, it’s right. You don’t need 16 cooks in the kitchen, you know messing stuff up, trying to politic or do something positive or negative based on how somebody else is going to react to it. Everybody here was like ‘let’s have fun’. There is a time and a place to be deadly serious about this business, but I see no problem being able to do both. I went out there and I had fun, but I was deadly serious. So I guess the happy accidents are really. people in charge back here letting people make their own mistakes and learning from it, and not punishing anybody. Like, I get it, it’s television. But, there’s an entire generation of people ingrained with ‘if you screw up, you’re gonna get fired’. And, I just feel nothing but joy back here backstage. And, I think if somebody does screw up, or make a mistake, I think there’s just people backstage here who will say ‘hey maybe try do it this way instead next time’. There’s no I told you so’s, there’s no pointing fingers, nobody in the corner elbowing. Everybody here wants everybody to succeed, I don’t think that’s a happy accident, I think that’s a happy on purpose.”
Q – CM Punk, you talked early on about how you were maybe hesitant [to return to wrestling]. When you have a company that was a startup like AEW, is there something they have to prove to you to show this is a reality? Tony what was the process like for you trying to get CM Punk to AEW?
A – [Punk] “Who am I? Nobody has to prove anything to me, you know what I mean? It wasn’t about them having to prove anything to me, it was about me being open to the idea. And, it wasn’t going to be me jumping in the pool right away, I had to dip my toe in. Actually, this is all Renne Paquette’s fault, because she’s the one who got me to do the [WWE] Backstage thing. And, she opened my eyes to, ‘hey she’s a good person, I like working with good people.’ And, that’s really all it was, nobody had to prove anything to me. But, I did take a wait and see approach. I wait and I saw, and I liked what I saw.”
[Khan] “That’s pretty much it, we stayed in touch, and I really liked talking to him. He had clearly watched some episodes of Dynamite’s, and we had some conversations about them. I really wanted you [Punk] to come back and wrestle, so desperately. And, I think it really didn’t make any sense to do it when there was no fans. And really, some of the happy accidents, were like I think we navigated the pandemic as well as we could have. It definitely gave us a lot of time to talk, because there was no rush to do anything as the fans were not coming back any time soon. I think that it was worth the wait, it was definitely worth the wait. It had to be the right circumstances. But, honestly this whole thing he [Punk] had so many brilliant ideas, including coming here to the United Centre. When you talk about happy accidents, that’s another one that the building was available on a Friday night. Then I called him and I said ‘I think we can do the second episode of AEW Rampage there.’ And, it was the coolest thing. All these things just lined up perfectly. The opponent. To find somebody who is so red-hot to match up against somebody who the idea of CM Punk coming back and wrestling is the hottest thing that has happened to the wrestling business is many, many, many years. And, the excitement you felt in the building is so real. I really enjoyed talking to him, it didn’t feel forced, it felt like something we both wanted to do, and it’s been really fun working on it. It’s just the culmination of the most exciting, most anticipated thing we [AEW] have ever done.”
– Going forward the questions will be directed to AEW President Tony Khan, instead of CM Punk. All answers will be from Khan unless stated otherwise
Q – Is there any non-traditional wrestling venues that we can expect to see AEW shows air from?
A – “There hasn’t been wrestling in the United Centre in a long time, and it was all CM Punk’s idea, and it was a great idea that paid off tonight. Arthur Ashe [Stadium] was something that I stumbled onto, truthfully a long time ago, like a couple years ago. And, when I was looking for a venue that nobody had run, when I was looking for a stadium with a roof, where we could put on a special show, it had been under our nose the whole time. It’s going to be a really special night, I think there’s a good chance CM Punk is going to be a big part of it. Arthur Ashe is a great venue, New York City, it’s going to be a great return for one of the all-time wrestling greats, in one of the all-time great wrestling cities, to do it in a venue where nobody has ever wrestled before.”
Q – How hard was it for you both to keep the announcement a secret? How many people did you actually confirm it to? CM Punk, was it always going to be Cult of Personality?
A – [Both Punk and Khan are laughing before the question is finished, remarking that it was the worst kept secret ever]. [Punk] It was always going to be the song. I told my wife, I had to run it by her. I think everybody else would kinda be like, ‘oh hey are you doing it?’, and I’d have to be like ‘I can’t… I can’t’. So, again this kind of goes back to one of the appealing things about AEW for me, and it’s a bit of a bummer of a topic. Brodie Lee passes away. We come to find out he was sick, but nobody knew. So, nobody said anything to anybody, because it’s nobody’s business. A lot of respect for everybody back here, and Brodie, well I love Brodie. So, to see that, there’s something about that. If it was anywhere else, It’d have been all over the internet, his poor wife would have been dealing with that, on top of already dealing with that tragic event. So, I think everybody would ask Tony, and he would say the same thing, [Khan agrees]. I can’t tell you that, but you get it. But, we also don’t wanna beat you over the head with it and lie. I didn’t have them construct some fugazi pipe-and-drape, and have them drive me into the United Centre and hide me from everybody. No, I walked in here like a human being, and I was like ‘hey everybody.’ And, I was meeting people walking through the hallway, because I just think that these people… again, nobody is back here standing on their own d*ck. Everybody is getting out of their own way, letting stuff happen, and just having fun. Behind the camera, and on the camera, people are just having fun, and they want to be a part of it. That’s it. Nobody is trying to tweet and spoil stuff, let’s just all have fun. I think a lot of people back here were in on it, but they weren’t sure, and man isn’t that fun? Isn’t that fun? Worst kept secret, designed that way, for a reason. You can criticize and say well they should’ve advertised me because the ratings will be better, but it’s about the moments. It’s about the moments, and making people go ‘wow I can’t miss this show, I don’t know what’s gonna happen, this is fun and I want to be a part of it.’ ”
Q – Punk you talked recently about how with Heelz, you strictly wanted to be an on-screen performer. Is that the case here in AEW?
A – [Punk] “I’m sure I’m going to do absolutely everything, it depends on situations. Like, if it calls for me to sit in on commentary, I will gleefully do that. But, again I don’t need to be called a producer to help somebody with a match, or to give my opinion or advice. I just think that is the right thing to do. I’m not saying I’m going to be wearing multiple hats, but everything I do needs to be about giving back. I’ve wasted some of the best years of my life not doing this – well I wouldn’t say wasted, I wasn’t in the right place to be doing it, everything works out and I don’t regret any of it. But, this isn’t about me trying to worry about my wins and losses, this is about me having fun, and working out who are the right people for me to have fun with.”
Q – Punk, I wanted to ask you – it was pretty public knowledge when you left WWE, you weren’t the biggest fan of wrestling. You said that tonight, you’ve fallen in love with wrestling again. What was the process? What made you love it that much more in the first place?
A – [Punk] “I do not want to give negative answers, or talk badly about anybody. This is why I made the distinction that on August 13th, 2005, I left professional wrestling, and now on August 20th, 2021, I am back in professional wrestling. I don’t think I ever hated professional wrestling, I could watch a Terry Funk match, I could watch Bill Watts, UWF, Mid-South, Jim Crockett Promotions and enjoy it. Rest in power Bobby Heaton, I could watch a Midnight-Express match, I could listen to Steve Austin cut promos. I just think there needs to be a real distinction made that what I despised wasn’t professional wrestling, and they [WWE] don’t try to pretend that it is, so why are we going to pretend that’s what it is, because it’s not. So, if everybody is happy going forward, we’re pro-wrestling, and I think that’s a beautiful thing.”
Q – Tony, could you describe the process of settling on this mid-point, not directly promoting CM Punk’s arrival, but not shying away. To Punk, there are some people you have had issues with in AEW before – are they now smoothed over? Or is that an aim for the future?
A – [Khan] “As far as that, it was something that we collaborated on, and I think it was his instincts that we wanted a surprise moment, and mine that we wanted to sell out the building, and we also wanted to have everybody know what was coming, and we sat together, and it came together perfectly. It was exactly what both of us wanted, where it was the surprise, but everybody knew what was coming. We created an international worldwide buzz, the buzz just around the city of Chicago today was palpable, you could feel it everywhere that wrestling is watched that people cared about it. The word was spreading, and it was really exciting, and I think it was the right call, and I credit it to CM Punk. It was a great idea to do it that way, and it was just fun working on it that way, and that’s how it came to be.”
[Punk] “I don’t have a single problem with anybody backstage here today. I don’t think I need to do the gossipy stuff. I think this was a really positive night, and I don’t think it needs to be brought down or be negative about it.”
Punk begins to eat an ice-cream bar as they wait for the next question.
Q – For both Punk and Khan, going forward what is the plan to sustain the momentum of these huge moments? Are you [CM Punk] looking forward to making moments now you’re back in the ring?
A – [Punk] “Yes, 100%! I get excited at the prospect of me working with; [Brian] Pillman [Jr], [Will] Hobbs, Ricky Starks, Jungle Boym Darby Allin, Jon Moxley – never worked with a Jon Moxley before. Literally just everybody, I’ve never worked with The Young Bucks, I’ve never stepped in the ring with Kenny Omega. I think there’s so many dream matches – that’s what people would call them, but also dream situations. Who knows who else is coming? I don’t know, you probably know [points to Khan], you’re the boss of all that. But, there’s just different combinations that people can get excited for, it feels live. And, I’m jazzed to be here, I feel excited to be here. I said it out in the promo, I’m here for the fans, I’m here for me, I’m not a liar, I’m not gonna lie. You tell me this is going going to be fun again, and I’m going to go out there and have the time of my life, yeah that’s the juice for me. I think it’s limitless possibilities, it feels like an environment where anything can happen. I love live TV, let’s have fun.”
[Khan] “Absolutely, we have such a great roster, and with the addition of CM Punk, I want to create indelible moments for CM Punk in AEW with the great stars of AEW. We have some of the best young wrestlers, we have some of the best-established wrestlers, and I think now is a great time for CM Punk to come into AEW, because right now the company is tracking red-hot, the shows have been tracking red-hot, we have a lot of wrestlers in their prime, and now is a great time for some of the exciting match-ups we can make.”
Q – Tony what’s the status on Daniel Garcia? [To Punk] When you see that kind of reaction, how does that make you reflect on what your legacy has developed to in the last seven years? And, how do you think you can contribute to AEW from a business standpoint?
A – [Punk] “Legacy is a weird thing for me, because I don’t put too much stock in legacy. I came up in a weird time in pro-wresting, where independents were still kind of new. I wish there was territories, but what I did instead of travelling to a territory for 4-6 months, I instead tried to work everywhere I could, and learn as much as I possibly could. So, for me what I would like my legacy to be is that, I was the kid that Terry Funk loved, that Harley Race loved, that Dusty Rhodes loved. I was the kid that all these old-school wrestlers loved, and then I got to a place that I thought was supposed to be my dream job, and those dudes that were supposed to be the same guys that loved me, didn’t like me, and it didn’t make any sense to me. So going forward, I think my legacy is just to help out the young guys the way Harley helped me, Terry Funk helped me, Eddie Guerrero helped me, and just not be a d*ck. For what? To protect a spot? That’s my legacy. I was a kid that Pat Patterson said was born 20/30 years late, and I take that stuff as a compliment. I had Sting come up to me today and tell me he was excited to work with me, and that he wished he had got to work with me back in his day. That’s my legacy, hell yeah!”
[Khan] “Daniel Garcia is doing awesome, he’s done tremendous work for us recently, and he’s been involved in some really important matches. It’s great to have a fresh, young, heel who can immediately get thrown into the fire and succeed for us in these situations. He’s under an agreement, and I think he can do a lot more things, and really shine for us in the future, and stay with us for a long time, hopefully. So, Daniel Garcia is doing great work, he had a great match with Moxley in the main event tonight.” Punk notes that Garcia is only 22 years old. [Khan] Garcia broke his legs in a car accident a couple of years ago, he’s really worked his ass off to get where he’s at, he came through on AEW Dark, and had some really good matches. Then 2.0 became available as free agents, and I really wanted to do a trios match with Darby [Allin], Eddie [Kingston], and [Jon] Mox[ley], and I thought it would be cool to have those three guys out there with Sting. It just happened that Garcia was the freshest young face on AEW Dark, and 2.0 were really a good tag team I thought on NXT, and on the independents. And, they’ve just hit homerun after homerun, with Sting and Darby, and tonight with Moxley and Eddie.”
Q – With so many working relationships between AEW and other companies, is that something you [CM Punk] are looking to seek out opportunities in? Tony Khan a lot of people thank you for saving their love of professional wrestling – what’s your reaction to that?
A – [Punk] “I’m an AEW guy. Listen guys, I just came back and you’re trying to book me in all these territories already. I have freedom here to continue to do outside endeavours like my commentary work for CFFC, and the schedule here enables me – not only scheduling wise, but main event talent-wise that I don’t have to be on every show. The way now [Kenny] Omega and The [Young] Bucks aren’t on every show. The talent pool is so deep that you can give people time off if their wife is having a baby, to me that’s a novel concept that should be embraced. Really, credit to this guy [Tony Khan] for allowing stuff like that to happen. I think he get pole-position regarding things I do, if he tells me he wants me to go be in the G-1 [Climax], we’ll talk about it.” – ‘That’s a lot of matches’ Khan remarked. [Punk] “I’m here to be an AEW, I’m here to be a TNT guy, in front of the camera and behind the camera. I think it’s great, Forbidden Door – working with Impact, and all these other things, and maybe somewhere down the line I will fit into that. But right now like I said, I just jumped into this pool. Let me swim in this pool before I get out, towel off, jump into the sauna or whatnot. I’m an AEW guy.”
[Khan] – I’m very very grateful to CM Punk for taking a chance on AEW, coming here and doing this with us tonight. It was the most anticipated thing we’ve ever done, and people had high expectations, and they got exactly what they wanted to see. It’s pretty cool when you get to do that for people. That’s one of the reasons I love wrestling, and I think that tonight is a really special moment for a lot of fans, and I hope we made a lot of new fans, and I hope we brought a lot of fans back to wrestling. And, the fans who have been with it this whole time, they probably loved it too. It was homerun, and I have to give all the credit to CM Punk for coming back and doing this with us.”
– Punk offers his own credit back to Tony Khan and AEW as the media call is brought to a close.
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