The dust has settled on last week’s AEW Dynamite, which you’ll no doubt recall featured the use of security camera footage showing CM Punk’s real life altercation with Jack Perry backstage at last year’s All In: London as part of the fictional Tag title program between The Young Bucks & FTR.
We’ll find out more in the weeks, months & years to come about the impact of that move on AEW and the men involved in the segment & the years’ worth of drama that preceded its airing. Until we do, the man who made the ultimate call to use the footage will probably get asked about his decision a lot.
Tony Khan was asked about it while on The Chris Russell Show yesterday (April 16). The AEW owner, president & head of creative stuck to his position that it made the latest Bucks/FTR title bout a better story. Khan doesn’t directly address his rumored (and pretty obvious) other motive… responding to Punk’s version of events and criticism of AEW during an interview with Ariel Helwani the week before.
“Well, I think it made a lot of sense.
“First of all, FTR/Young Bucks ladder match coming up at AEW Dynasty for the World Tag Team Championships. This is the fourth chapter in FTR vs. The Young Bucks… the last time they wrestled, Young Bucks/FTR III, was at Wembley Stadium, AEW All In.
“And a lot happened that day. They were the third match on the pay-per-view and at one point it looked like we were going to have to call them up and they were going to have to wrestle the first match. And then they ended up going on in the spot they were in, but the Young Bucks said, the whole day, everything that happened, it really affected their mental preparation, they weren’t able to pray before the match, they were very stressed out.
“They slipped on the banana peel and lost the match but they blame FTR, they blame what happened at Wembley Stadium, and that’s why, in hindsight, thats why they refused to shake FTR’s hand.”
Khan pointed to the Perry’s night at New Japan’s show in Chicago last Friday as evidence of the Dynamite segment’s effect:
“It was fascinating to see after that tape played, the reaction that Jack Perry got at New Japan Pro Wrestling this week, he got the reaction of a superstar. That is not altogether unexpected and it’s something very interesting, perhaps a side effect of this. Jack Perry [is] already a big star in wrestling, really the way the crowd connected with him in Chicago, that was interesting to see.”
That last part won’t help to quell speculation Perry will be aligning with The Bucks soon. The former Jungle Boy has technically been suspended since All In, and using the incident & AEW’s response to it to fuel his new “Scapegoat” gimmick.
We should know more about Khan’s plans for Perry in the not-too-distant future. But you don’t have to wait to tell us what you make of his answer about the use of All In footage — you can do that in the comments below right now.
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