Sammy Guevara praises Tony Khan for the way he handled CM Punk’s departure from AEW.
AEW terminated Punk’s contract on September 2. That night, AEW Collision emanated from Punk’s hometown of Chicago, and Khan addressed the crowd.
Speaking with Scott Fishman of TV Insider, Guevara was asked to share his thoughts on the way Khan has handled the situation with Punk, among other challenges. Guevara stated that Khan has “a lot of balls,” and he respects the way he addressed the crowd.
Tony, I feel doesn’t get enough credit he deserves. He, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes. They all changed everyone’s life and wrestling. Without them, especially Tony, there would be no AEW. There would be a bunch of people doing something completely different. I don’t know anything regarding the behind-the-scenes decisions he makes, but he is such a caring guy.
“What I will say is that he has a lot of balls. I have a lot of respect for him. He went out in front of the Chicago crowd to address them personally after he made the decision to let Punk go. He didn’t have to go in front of everyone, he could have just played the video. But he went out in front of thousands of people. He is getting booed. [Khan] understood how they felt. He is an upfront guy.
Sammy Guevara: Tony Khan Taking The Heat Was Commendable
Sammy Guevara was also asked about Khan’s decision to address Punk’s termination head-on. Guevara made it clear that he thought Khan wanting to take the heat was commendable, as he didn’t want anyone else to be impacted.
“I watched him make the announcement thinking, “Wow, he doesn’t have to do this.” I get it from a wrestling fan’s perspective,” Guevara said. “You went to the show expecting to see someone, and now this guy is telling you he isn’t going to be there. It’s almost like killing the messenger. But when you think about it, this man did not need to go out there.
“He could have easily also had someone else do it. Mad respect. I told him that too. I told him he had a lot of balls for him to do that. He said, “It had to be done, and I had to be the one to do it.” He wasn’t going to get the heat on any of the boys or anyone that night. [Khan] wanted to take the heat, which I thought was commendable.”
Tony Khan recently commented on his decision to address the live crowd following Punk’s termination. Check out his comments here.
