Tony Khan Addresses CM Punk 'Collision Guy' Comments, AEW Brand Split Questions

CM Punk made a surprise appearance on "AEW Dynamite" last Wednesday night in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. The former AEW World Champion — who returned to All Elite Wrestling on the premiere of "AEW Collision" last weekend following a lengthy spell on the sidelines through injury — said that he was a "Collision" guy and wasn't supposed to be on the Wednesday night show. AEW CEO Tony Khan spoke about Punk's comments in the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 post-show media scrum. 

"It made so much sense with the show being in Chicago for CM Punk to make an appearance on 'Dynamite,'" Khan said. "He's been featured on 'Collision,' and I think we have stars that have been featured regularly on the shows, but you never know who's going to show up on different shows. The spontaneity of it was very cool. Obviously, the show did very well. The rating was up significantly this week. It did really well, and I thought having that early in the show was something to show people this is going to be an exciting night. There was a lot of cool stuff on the show. 

"And as we approached Forbidden Door, of course, CM Punk has been big on 'Collision,' but I also wanted to bring him back to 'Dynamite' in front of the Chicago crowd and show the fans that, first of all, like I've said, there's no hard roster split, so that's why he came and he made the reference, which was great and it was a cool moment, I thought. [It] got people talking, and you never know where you're gonna see him."

Punk defeated Satoshi Kojima last night at Forbidden Door to advance to the next round of the men's Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. 

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit All Elite Wrestling and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.