WWE Hall of Famer Booker T recently spoke on his podcast, “the Hall of Fame,” about a variety of professional wrestling topics including his thoughts on Tony Khan firing CM Punk from AEW:
“I must give Tony a lot of credit. I mean, he didn’t have to go out in front of that Chicago fan base and take that punishment and that abuse, but he went out there and did it. I think at the end of the day, he got his point across and he turned those fans a little bit as far as letting those fans know hey, I did this for you. This is something that we created, we created together with you guys and those Chicago fans, I must say, they were a big part of it even before CM Punk came on board. I think Chicago was definitely a major player as far as AEW goes, so I give Tony Khan a whole lot of credit.”
“I mean Tony Khan did the right thing getting ahead of the thing, not waiting after the pay-per-view, you know, CM Punk don’t show up. Fans really would have went crazy. Getting in front of it and going out there and just being a man, you know, I knew it had to be difficult speaking in front of that crowd being booed. It took him about six minutes to get it all out, but I think it was something that was necessary for Tony Khan to do.”
“Just think about this for a second. We know Tony Khan and how much he loved the independent scene and those independent wrestlers. He grew up on it. Ain’t no doubt in my mind that if Tony Khan could have kept CM Punk, he would have kept him. He didn’t gives CM Punk all the chances, bringing him back, paying him all this money, you know, for no reason. I mean, I don’t think so. So I think Tony Khan did, not what he wanted to do, but what he had to do for the sake of that company. I’m not there. I don’t know the inner workings of AEW, but I know Tony Khan, you know, from the outside looking in, he went all out for CM Punk to the point to where he gave him his own show. That was a Punk show. So I don’t think Tony Khan wanted to do it. I just think it was something that he had to do.”
“I know a lot of people say Booker T hated CM Punk. That’s not the case at all. I’ve never really hated CM Punk or anything like that, but I gotta say, you can be good at what you do, and if people like you, you’ll stick around forever. You can be great at what you do, and if people don’t like you, they will bounce your ass up out of there some way, somehow, and that’s this situation right here. Right now. CM Punk left a whole lot of money on the table on the other side of the fence, and he just left a boatload of money on the table again, and people can can say what they want to say, but we’ve seen this story before. This is the exact same story almost in a nutshell.”
You can check out the complete podcast below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
