All Elite Wrestling’s president Tony Khan recently hosted a media call to promote the upcoming AEW pay per view All Out. One of the topics that was addressed by the media was CM Punk and what it has been like working with The Best in the World. Khan had the following to say about collaborating with CM Punk:
“We’re having a great time. I had a great time with him last night in the trailer putting stuff together. I’ve had a great time with him this whole run, trying to figure out ideas, coming up with the first match with Darby Allin. He’s great, and he’s a fun, cool guy. And I think he has a lot of great, interesting ideas, and I collaborate with a lot of people, whether it’s The Young Bucks, Kenny [Omega], Cody [Rhodes] or Chris Jericho.
Tony Khan then went on to explain his creative process and compared the use of CM Punk to the way that Sting was initially used in AEW back in December 2020:
Pretty much anything on TV, I come in and talk with people, and I put a lot of thought into it. In some ways, it’s amazing because it’s him. He’s amazing. I compare it to another all-time, legendary great wrestler… Sting, which is I enjoy sitting with Sting. Originally, he came in pretty tentative, and I think I took the heat for some of it because people thought of the way I was using Sting, but I think about pacing. And Sting now is starting to get more physically involved. Honestly, the way Sting’s character has evolved in AEW is really cool. It wouldn’t have made sense for him or to us to do as much physical stuff as he did. We really has to ease into it and be comfortable, and he’s comfortable. He’s in amazing shape, doing safe stuff and having the time of his life, and I think now with Punk, really really cool collaborating with him, and honestly, he’s got a really great wrestling mind and he’s brought so much to the table already.
Khan finished the question by further praising CM Punk’s creative process and how AEW is different to Punk’s previous employers. Also, Tony Khan explained how much creative power the AEW roster has:
“He’s a really good person to collaborate with. I don’t really understand some of the things he was asked to do before he left wrestling, and I told him, ‘If I ever ask you to do something, it’s not coming from a malicious place. If something doesn’t make sense for you, tell me, and we’ll talk about.’ And that’s generally how I am with everyone. If somebody doesn’t like something, I’m not trying to put stuff in that doesn’t make sense. Not one person, including Mr. Punk, including everybody that’s on the roster has creative control.”
H/t to Wrestling Inc. for the use of transcriptions.
Featured image: Wrestlezone
