CM Punk has commented on AEW president Tony Khan’s recent acquisition of the Ring of Honor promotion. Punk joined Khan for the post-Revolution media scrum following a victory over MJF in a bloody dog collar match at the pay-per-view.
Along with the promotions name, Khan has purchased the assets of Ring of Honor, which includes the tape library. Former ROH Champion CM Punk has said the following regarding the new deal:
“It was pretty important. I loved ROH so much. I can’t explain how happy I am that my footage is in good hands. It’s good to know that it’s in the hands of somebody that will treat it well. I literally feel that my baby is in somebody’s hands that I know will raise the child the right way and do good things with it and it won’t get made into some tab on a shitty confusing app that is hard to navigate and the boys don’t get paid anything off it. It’s very good. To pay homage to myself, I didn’t get to do this for seven years, this didn’t exist for seven years for me. Obviously, the truth is, I love professional wrestling very much. To comeback and to be able to, for six months, not just do whatever the fuck you want, it’s doing whatever the fuck you want and being cocky enough to know that your way is, not the right way, there is never one right way, but it’s fucking good. To have somebody that listens to you and have somebody that can take an idea and make it even better and to have an open dialogue. Not just with [Tony Khan], but with other people in the locker room. It’s great that you don’t have to beat your head against the wall and explain why your ideas are shitty and why, I don’t care who you think you are, you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s nice. Everything is just so great,” Punk said.
Prior to Khan making the purchase, there had been rumours that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was going to acquire the assets of Ring of Honor. Punk has stated that he is pleased that Khan is the one who made the deal, addressing pay issues with WWE that have occurred in the past, including questions about pay and royalties moving from the pay-per-view format to the WWE Network.
“It was either Tony was going to buy it or Vince was going to buy it. I don’t want Vince to own any of my footage. He owns enough of it and owns enough of it that I don’t get paid off. People need to understand that when I left, I was asking questions about the Network, which had not been launched yet. I was saying, ‘How am I going to paid off this? We don’t even understand what the pay scale is. I don’t know if I get paid off the date of a pay-per-view, off a buy rate, you guys already throw darts at an imaginary board and pay me whatever you want. I still get royalties, that’s the only hardcopy thing I see, DVD sales. Once all the DVDs go away and you’re putting stuff on the Network, I’m not getting paid. Or am I? Tell me. Let’s talk about it.’ ‘My guy, you’re good. Don’t worry about it.’ They couldn’t tell me. Now, I watch my royalty checks, which I still get, dwindle to nothing, because they put everything on the Network and the boys don’t get paid. That’s not just me. That’s everybody. That’s criminal,” he said.
Also during the media call, AEW president Tony Khan expanded on what role new signee William Regal will be undertaking in All Elite Wrestling.
H/t to Fightful for the use of transcriptions.
Featured image: Wrestling Inc.
