Tony Khan firmly believes that CM Punk has been a major boost to All Elite Wrestling overall, no matter what some critics may say. The AEW President spoke with Pro Wrestling Torch Editor-In-Chief Wade Keller in a recent interview and touched upon the value that CM Punk has brought and will bring to his wrestling company. The following is an excerpt from the interview:
“I see the trend, our numbers are so much better than were going into the last few months and there’s been an unquestionable lift since C.M. Punk came in. For some reason I see people trying to discredit Punk all the time, that he hasn’t been a huge lift to our business, and he has been. He’s only scratching the surface. I have intentionally, in working with him, tried to hold back the biggest marquee things, biggest marquee matches and stories. We’ve been getting Punk reintegrated, building him a winning streak and I think it’s worked great. Again, when you look at the rating our first Wednesday back, that as a really strong number last week and he was such a huge part of it, kicking the show off and wrestling through the entire first segment in a great match. So, he’s just lifted our business so much and I see people constantly with really petty stuff trying to discredit him and its ridiculous because he’s done so much for us.
Khan also touted Punk’s influence on company metrics including PPV numbers, ratings, merchandise sales, and digital growth.
“Between the huge number we did for All Out and the massive number we did for The First Dance Rampage and the insane merchandise sales we’ve done since he came in,” Khan said. “The big lift in our subscription video services, we’ve seen a huge rise in subscribers to our international streaming since he came in and I just see tons of business opportunities.”
Transcription credit should go to Zack Heydorn of PWTorch
The full interview with Tony Khan is available to PWTorch VIP subscribers.
