Below are a couple of top WWE & AEW news stories of the day, featuring CM Punk and Tony Khan.
• Former WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee retired from wrestling after her match on RAW after WrestleMania 31 in 2015. Despite her long absence, AJ remains a beloved figure, with many current NXT superstars citing her as an inspiration.
During an interview on Cheap Heat with Peter Rosenberg, CM Punk addressed the possibility of AJ’s return, expressing that her return would be bigger than his:
“She 100% supersedes me. Everyone is talking about, ‘Who is going to main event WrestleMania?’ ‘Who is going to enter the Royal Rumble?’ ‘Who is going to come back?’ I had mine last year; I think hers would be bigger than mine.”
Punk acknowledged that his WWE return might have influenced AJ’s interest in a comeback. “Yeah, I would say it definitely did. It’s more of a workload thing for her. She is very busy,” Punk shared. He added, “If she wraps up some stuff that she’s working on and she has the time and she feels like dipping her toe back in or jumping back in the pool, she’ll let us know.”
Punk emphasized AJ’s adaptability and success across eras, stating, “Her and I are similar in the regard that we’re out of time. You could pluck us both off from where we started and put us in any kind of era. I definitely think she would thrive here. She thrived back then when the focus wasn’t women, and this past week, every single television show we had opened with a women’s match and main evented with a women’s match. You can’t tell me she wouldn’t fit in there.”
Top WWE & NXT stars like Bayley, Liv Morgan, Cora Jade, and Roxanne Perez have reportedly been advocating for AJ’s return.
WATCH: AJ Lee’s (CM Punk’s Wife) Wardrobe Malfunction In WWE:
• During an interview with CHGO Sports, Tony Khan was asked if pushing black wrestlers like Bobby Lashley, Swerve Strickland and Ricochet on AEW programming is a conscious decision.
Here’s what Khan said:
“I think you just said it. I’m conscious of it, but I also think that these are some of the best wrestlers in AEW you just named. So we’re really lucky to have those great stars.
We’ve been fortunate to be able to build up some great stars and also have a lot of great free agents come in to where I think so many of the top wrestlers, some of the top Black wrestlers in the world are in AEW, and I really think most of the top Black wrestlers in the world are now in AEW.
But I think that is a conscious thing, but I also think it’s great.”
