During an appearance on Busted Open Radio to promote the 2021 AEW All Out PPV, CM Punk said the following is regards to AEW President Tony Khan being called a “mark” by his critics:
“I see a lot of criticism and I’m like if the number one criticism is, ‘oh, this guy is a fan, he is a mark’… well s**t, aren’t we all? You know what I mean? I’d rather have a guy who’s a fan of it, sitting with a headset on and directing a show rather than somebody who doesn’t like…there’s good and there’s bad and the good far outweighs the bad.
Punk also commented on which AEW stars he would like to work with:
“The lame answer is everybody. I’ve never worked with The Young Bucks. I’ve never worked with Kenny Omega. I’ve worked with Cody in what, 2009? Those are the guys that I never mention when I’m doing media because I always feel the need to put the spotlight on other young guys like Darby Allin, Pillman Jr. Hobbs, Ricky Starks. There’s people that have potential. If you know anything about wrestling, and you watch the program, you see those guys, and you go, ‘That guy right there. That guy’s got something.’ I love how they are rough around the edges. That’s so great.
It reminds me of watching an old wrestling television show, studio wrestling, and seeing guys where not everything is super polished. Not everything is an LED screen. These guys have different gear, different looks, personalities that are all different. You can tell they all come from different spots. They’ve trained in different ways and they have different styles. That’s what 100% attracted me to the AEW locker room. Why wouldn’t I want to wrestle these guys? Why wouldn’t I want to go there? You can talk about big money matches. There’s way more in AEW than there is anywhere else for me.”
