Tony Khan Explains Why CM Punk Wasn't Stripped of the AEW World Championship
CM Punk announced on last week's AEW Rampage that he suffered a surgery-requiring foot injury that will keep him out of action for an unknown amount of time. The announcement came mere days after he won the AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing, but it was quickly confirmed afterward that Punk would not be relinquishing the company's top prize. Punk even mentioned in the latest Road To... video that AEW President Tony Khan wouldn't allow it.
"I probably wasn't as clear as I should have been," Punk said. "I offered to relinquish the title and Tony told me that under no circumstances was I allowed to do that."
The AEW Interim Championship Eliminator Series was then announced, which will see Jon Moxley take on the winner of a battle royale in the main event of tonight's AEW Dynamite. The winner of that match will take on the winner of Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto (at New Japan's Dominion event this weekend) at Forbidden Door on June 26. But why did AEW go the interim champion route instead of simply crowning a new champion? Khan explained his reasoning on Busted Open Radio on Wednesday.
"Based on what happens in real fights, in the world of fighting, this is what you do. You have a great champion, and if they are injured, you name an interim champion and set up an exciting unification fight. We have a great chance to set something exciting up," Khan said (h/t Fightful).
"It is a setback, but we're really excited to get CM Punk back," he later added. "He's going to have surgery here quickly and I'm very nervous, but pretty optimistic because he's going to be seeing one of the top doctors in the entire world and someone really renowned in sports medicine. We were fortunate to get him in quickly. We're excited to get him back."
Moxley was quickly moved up to the No. 1 spot in the official rankings for AEW's singles division last week, with Khan explaining that he was the only wrestler with at least seven singles victory and the strongest list of opponents. Moxley previously won the AEW World Championship at Revolution 2020 and would hold it all the way until Winter is Coming that December, meaning the vast majority of his reign took place during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
