Tony Khan has a special place in his heart for the land of ‘Extreme’ and he wanted to send the local crowd home after hearing from some ECW alumni in the building.
After Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite and Rampage tapings ended, Tony Khan came to the ring and wanted to share his appreciation for the fans in Philadelphia. Khan shared the story about how he always wanted to go to the ECW Arena as a kid, and said Philly was the perfect place to celebrate AEW’s second anniversary show. Before he left the ring, Khan called ECW alumni Taz and Chris Jericho to the ring, then welcomed Dean Malenko and Jerry Lynn as well. Each man shared their gratitude for the fans, and the night was capped off by a surprise appearance from CM Punk, who playfully noted that he felt left out since he too was also ECW Champion at one point.
Taz: “These guys are great, and you all are great. For me, as an ECW original and all that stuff…it was an amazing time, and I know a lot of you guys are old enough to remember that and be part of that. But what we got here, it’s f-cking crazy because it’s like a new generation of ECW on steroids. So listen, I’ve said it publicly. I’ll say it here, and I don’t give a sh-t if anybody gets hot about it. I don’t give a f-ck; you can call me a homer. I don’t give a sh-t. This is the best f-cking place I’ve ever worked!”
Jericho then took the mic and noted he had no idea CM Punk was there and joked that he was confused by the “CM Punk chants” during the segment.
CM Punk: “I just want to say, I feel extremely left out because I was the ECW Champion, and nobody invited me. And I just want to make a point, that I think that’s a very important distinction to make because I never would have been ECW Champion if it wasn’t for a guy like Taz, if it wasn’t for a guy like Chris Jericho. Certainly, if it wasn’t for Dean Malenko or Jerry Lynn, so I thought it would be fun if I stuck my head out here real quick because I was ECW Champion. And I’ll leave it at that.”
CM Punk then left and went backstage, handing the mic back to Jericho.
Chris Jericho: “Isn’t it great to have CM Punk back, right guys? I know it’s been a long night, and we appreciate you guys. We always love coming to Philadelphia. My first time in Philadelphia was with ECW, in 1996, after I called Paul Heyman for one year, to try and get booked. He never answered, and then he called me one day and said, ‘I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for one year.’ We had a great time at the arena. We used to stay at The Ramada Inn down the road. I’m sure some of you were there. If you weren’t, it’s good that you weren’t. If you were, you know why it’s good that they weren’t. Once again, thank you guys for being here. This is the new tradition in wrestling. This is the greatest wrestling company in the world today. This is really the new revolution, and this is happening now, live with all of you. We’re not stopping. We’re only just beginning, and in 20 f-cking years, you’ll still be chanting AEW, and I’ll still be here to talk to you.”
Dean Malenko: “I’ll just keep this short, thank you very much.”
Jerry Lynn: “I just wanted to say thank you because everywhere I’ve wrestled on this planet, you guys here in Philly have been the most passionate. You reinforced it when I went to a Phillies game, and I was like, Oh my God, but you guys have never let us down here in Philly, and you are the craziest MF’ers I’ve ever seen.”
Tony Khan: “Thank you so much for a great night. I can’t thank you enough for being here. I can’t wait to see you again. Happy anniversary!”
If you use this transcript, credit Matt Black of WrestleZone and link back to this post.
Read More: AEW Dynamite Results (10/6/21)
Check out a few highlights of the segment below:
Not the best footage but.. pic.twitter.com/EmOe5Yguan
— KILLER BROOKS (@CM_Trunks) October 7, 2021
Here’s a little bit ? pic.twitter.com/GCA94trEuq
— Melissa ??? (@melissax1125) October 7, 2021
Tony Khan recently spoke about how Orange Cassidy has gotten over quicker than some may have anticipated; you can read his comments about Orange’s success here. Khan also praised Jon Moxley as being a “great blessing” for the AEW roster. Read his remarks about how having a deep roster is a good problem at this link.
