CM Punk Says AEW Is Not A Real Business, Calls Tony Khan A Nice Guy But Not A Boss, Talks Brawl In Incident With Jack Perry

WWE superstar CM Punk appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour earlier today, where the Second City Saint opened up about his time in AEW, the incident with Jack Perry, and a bunch of other juicy topics that he hasn’t spoken about publicly about his time working under Tony Khan. Highlights are below.

On not getting picked up by anyone in London before AEW All In:

There’s nobody there to pick me up, and it’s not a big deal. I just got on the tube and I was like, ‘adventure.’ That part was fun but it’s completely irresponsible as a company to leave somebody stranded at the airport.

On Tony Khan’s decision to start Collision, how Punk thought it wouldn’t work, and how he just wanted out of AEW at that point:

There’s all these rumors about NDAs. There’s a big difference between not being allowed to talk about some shit or just not wanting to talk about some shit. I don’t necessarily want to litigate this again. Tony’s big idea was (a) separate show, we’re going to separate everybody and I said that’ll never work, just let me go, just get me out of here.

Recalled feeling that people didn’t want him in AEW, but tried to make it work. Talks being approached about Jack Perry wanting to use real glass:

These guys don’t want me here, this isn’t a real business, this isn’t a business predicated on making money, drawing money, selling tickets you know. It’s not what it was sold to me as, so let me go. ‘Oh, I can’t let you go, I’m going to do a new show.’ And then the second day we have this show, I’m sitting in catering minding my own business, Tony Schiavone comes and gets me and he’s like, ‘Hey, I really need your help.’ I was like, ‘What?’ And he’s like, ‘Jack is cussing me out, and he’s cussed out Mike Mansury, and cussing out Darryl from production, and he’s cussing out the doctor right now.’ I was immediately like, the dude isn’t supposed to be here. I was told people are getting separated so there’s not problems and you don’t want me involved in this.

How Perry’s attitude made sense since he was friends with the Young Bucks:

It’s very much who he is friends with an things never got squashed, nobody’s in charge and it turned into what it turned into.

Says he approached Tony Khan after Jack Perry called him out at All In, where Punk asked Khan to ‘handle that’:

I went to Tony (Khan) and was like, ‘Please handle that. Like, please.’ And he was like, ‘What do you want me to do?’ I’m like, ‘I’m not telling you what to do, just be the boss, please.’

Recalls the altercation with Perry:

I thought i was doing a responsible thing. I didn’t punch anybody, I just choked somebody a little bit. Samoa Joe was there, told me to stop, and then I quit. I turned to Tony (Khan) and said this place is a fucking joke man, you’re a clown, I quit. Went to my room, then Joe and Jerry Lynn came and got me and were like “lets juts go and kill it.”

On Tony Khan saying he feared for his life:

I can’t tell you what Tony felt or what he was thinking but I never did anything to make him fear for his life but he’s who he is. There was a concerted effort to, I guess, slander me and try to ruin my character. And that’s kind of the genesis of all the drama. Like, don’t do that, why are you doing that to a guy who works for your company? Why are you lying? Why are you spreading lies and rumors and bullshit about your top guy?

On Tony Khan as a boss:

Man, that’s a loaded question because I don’t want this to be… I don’t like the drama but the truth is the truth, he is not a boss, he’s a nice guy and I think ultimately that is a detriment to the company, but it’s not my company.

Talks the infamous Adam Page promo, where Page went off script in the lead-up to their Double or Nothing title match:

He thinks that I got one of his friends who hasn’t been fired, fired. I went to Tony and the lawyer and I said, ‘You need to fix that because if I do you’re not going to like the way I fix it.’ And I thought I was being professionally by not just murdering him on television. With me, respect is the default. I resepect everybody until you do something that makes me lose my respect for you. I had never done anything to any of those guys. If they are basing how their attitude is towards me based on some bullshit their friend told them, well, I can’t help you. But I’ve got plenty of friends who don’t like certain people and I keep relationships business. And everything fell off the rails from there, it’s a shame, it’s really a shame.

Says the positive experiences in AEW outweigh the negative, but overall AEW is not a real business:

I think the positives definitely out weigh the negatives. I thought I was coming in to help, to help business, if I could teach something great and I think I was just brought in for other reasons. There business, and I know a lot of people are going to be upset, it’s not a real business. It’s not about selling tickets, it’s not about drawing money, it’s not about making money, it’s just not.

To finish, Punk says he wishes everyone in AEW well, and says he doesn’t regret his time there:

When it comes to AEW and all that, I genuinely don’t regret my time there, I’m just brutally honest about some things. And you ask questions and you’re a real journalist so I’ll gleefully go ahead and answer it. It’s done. I hope they’re happy, I known I am and I would like to leave it at that. I understand fans and the tribalism, because I’m a Blackhawks fan, I’m a Chicago Cubs fan, so I will always troll and needle White Sox fans, or Blues fans, or Predators fans you know? But some of the shit was so outlandish, talking about my dog and all this awful stuff.