Tony Khan Felt His Life Was In Danger At AEW All In

Tony Khan addressed the elephant in the room to open the September 2 episode of Collision as the AEW CEO discussed why he fired CM Punk, saying that he feared for his life at All In.

"Today I terminated Phil Brooks (CM Punk) for cause. This stems from a backstage incident at AEW All In last Sunday. The incident was regrettable and it endangered people backstage. This includes the production staff, the people who help put the show on every week, innocent people who had nothing to do with it. I've been going to wrestling shows for over 30 years, I've been producing them on this network for nearly four years. Never in that time have I ever felt until last Sunday that my safety, my security, my life, was in danger at a wrestling show. I don't think anybody should feel that way at work. I don't think that people I work with should feel that way and I had to make a very difficult decision today," Khan said, in part.

AEW announced today that CM Punk’s contract had been terminated with cause following an investigation into a backstage altercation at All In. That backstage altercation included Jack Perry, with the incident occurring before Punk's match with Samoa Joe to open All In.

There have been differing accounts about what happened during the altercation but a neutral party revealed this week that CM Punk screamed and lunged at Tony Khan immediately following the altercation with Perry. Khan was also said to have been hit by monitors during the altercation and he yelled for Punk to let Jack Perry go.

CM Punk had already had an incident with Tony Khan at All In, having reportedly angrily confronted the AEW President over him not being picked up from Heathrow Airport.