Tony Khan Talks Addressing The Chicago Crowd Following CM Punk’s Firing – AEW President Tony Khan addressed the live crowd at the United Center in Chicago on September 2nd, just hours after CM Punk was fired from the company. During this address, Khan explained his decision to terminate Punk, and his speech initially received boos from the audience, which later turned into light cheers. The full speech can be watched at this link.

In a recent interview with Insider, Khan discussed this crowd speech and the choice to address the audience from the entrance ramp rather than the center of the ring.

You can’t see everybody’s face from the center of the ring. You have to choose one side of the crowd to face when you’re in the ring. And I wanted to be able to see everybody. I felt like, I’m not a wrestler and I don’t need to be in the ring, and for this moment, I thought I would just sit down and talk to everybody. That’s why I brought out a chair.

Khan later revealed what Ricky Steamboat told him immediately after his speech when he returned backstage.

And when I was done and walked backstage, the first person I saw was Ricky Steamboat and he said, “That was great, you turned the crowd. You turned them around. That’s so hard to do, and you did it.” I felt I at least owed that much to the wrestlers and the fans, to go out there and talk to everybody.

While Khan spoke about this moment, he continued to dodge questions asked by Insider on Punk and the incident.

Tony Khan Talks Addressing The Chicago Crowd Following CM Punk’s Firing