Tony Khan has been pretty consistent about not commenting on the status of CM Punk with AEW, and that didn’t change a few days out from Full Gear.
That’s notable because when the show hits Newark’s Prudential Center on Saturday, the return of The Elite (Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks) will mean everyone involved in the fracas that started after Punk’s post-All Out press conference tirade will either be back in action or (in the case of Punk’s longtime friend Ace Steel) gone from the company.
Punk’s fate remains a topic of intense interest and speculation, so it was no surprise that one of the questions during Khan’s pre-Full Gear conference call just flat out asked if fans have seen the last of CM Punk in AEW.
“I can’t comment on that,” Khan said. “I have nothing but positive things to say about the contributions CM Punk has made in AEW on screen, and certainly a lot of positive things to say about thing he did in AEW to date. … I do understand why you’d ask and appreciate you asking.”
The final question on the call also concerned Punk, and specifically about whether Khan might have known that Punk was going to go on the tangents he did — and why he didn’t do anything to stop it. In this case, the person asking the question was someone with a personal interest in the answer: Nick Hausman of Wrestling Inc., the journalist who Punk responded to at All Out that set the entire chain of events in motion.
Khan insisted he had no idea what was going to transpire, and that he had reasons for wanting the press conference to continue.
“You were sitting five feet away from me, and I did not know,” Khan said. “No, I did not know. But I will not comment beyond that except to say that I had Keith [Lee] and Swerve [Strickland] coming up right after that and Toni Storm after that. And I had important stuff to talk to them about.”
Common sense suggests that Khan might field a question or two about Punk after Full Gear too, but his answers are likely to be the same. We’ll find out late Saturday night.