Tony Khan Told Not to Let CM Punk Infect AEW Again

CM Punk is a controversial figure in the professional wrestling world thanks to all the antics he has pulled over the years. People believed he would take AEW to the next level, but it never came to fruition for the most part. For many fans, CM Punk poisoned AEW and ruined its reputation to a huge degree. With reports suggesting Punk is set to return soon, Eric Bischoff advised Tony Khan to let Punk back.

Reports have suggested that AEW is in the process of bringing back CM Punk to the company. Punk has been absent since the infamous brawl that took place at All Out last year. He was recovering from his triceps injury right after that, but always remained a topic of discussion despite his absence.

Eric Bischoff also previously blasted CM Punk for being bitter and brittle and made it clear he does not think Punk is worth keeping in AEW. Regardless, other people feel differently.

While speaking with co-host Jon Alba on Strictly Business, Eric Bischoff talked about CM Punk possibly making his return to AEW. Bischoff made it clear he doesn’t care if Punk returns. That said, he advised AEW President Tony Khan not to let CM Punk infect AEW again, describing him as a festering wound.

“Don’t give a f***. Who cares? This is just such drama for the sake of drama. It’s a good thing that this drama is actually taking place because there’s nothing worthwhile watching AEW. It is what it is, and if you’re a fan of AEW, god bless you, go with god, enjoy the product. But it’s flat, it’s boring. There’s nothing going on except for the drama outside of the ring. If Tony Khan had the ability to somehow manufacture a fraction, a small fraction, an infinitesimal amount of the drama that’s taking place outside his company and figure out a way to integrate it inside his television product, it would be another situation. But it’s not. When the drama outside of your company far exceeds the drama that you’re able to create inside your company, if you’re a scripted wrestling company, you’ve got a problem, and I think this is indicative of a much bigger problem.

Not with the current brain trust involved in creative at AEW, I don’t. That would take imagination and cooperation. That’s the other thing. Because I’m not involved, I don’t have a dog in the hunt, I really don’t give two shits whether CM Punk goes back to AEW or not. It’s not gonna affect my life one way or the other. But if I did care, which I don’t, I would have to ask myself, how honest is CM Punk about coming back? How wiling is CM Punk to mend the fences that were torn down not that long ago?

If I were the type of person to give CM Punk the benefit of the doubt, if [he] were to wake up one day and say, ‘You know what, this is kind of a messed up situation, this is not the way I wanted to go out of the industry, I think I wanna come back,’ would the first thing you expect him to do be to bury Chris Jericho, and to continue to bury other members of AEW? Which is what he did, just a week or two. So how sincere, how honest is he about making amends and making things work? It’s stupid. The people involved are equally as stupid for engaging in this, knowing that the outcome is gonna be pretty much the same as it’s been.

I know I wouldn’t take the risk of getting into the mud with this guy again. He’s a proven commodity, and it’s not somebody that I’d want to be in business with. If I was Tony, I’d just eat the, whatever it is, however many millions of dollars a year he’s paying, just pay the cat off and chalk it up as a learning experience. You’re gonna keep learning, one way or the other. You’re either gonna pay this cat off and learn a hard lesson, and move on with your life, or you’re gonna let this festering wound continue to infect the rest of your business going forward, and you’re still paying him. I don’t get it.”

Eric Bischoff also dared Tony Khan to book CM Punk vs Goldberg at AEW All In at Wembley Stadium. It is to be noted that The Elite are not really interested in working with CM Punk. We’ll have to see whether Punk will return in time for AEW All In in August.

What’s your take on what Eric Bischoff said? Do you want CM Punk back in AEW? Sound off in the comments!