AEW President Tony Khan kicked off Collision last night backstage telling viewers that he had fired CM Punk earlier in the day.

“The incident was regrettable and it endangered people backstage. That includes the production staff who put the show on every week, innocent people who had nothing to do with it,” Khan said of the incident which happened at Gorilla position last Sunday.

“I’ve been going to wrestling shows for over 30 years. I’ve been producing them on this network for four years. Never in all that time have I ever felt until last Sunday that my security, my safety, my life was in danger at a wrestling show,” Khan explained.

He added that no one should feel that way at work especially those who he works with every week.

“I had to make a very difficult choice today,” he concluded.

Prior to Collision going on the air, Khan came out to address the crowd and received some cheers and quite a bit of boos. Khan took a seat at the top of the stage and explained how he grew up in Chicago and then talked about CM Punk. It was certainly not easy for Khan to appear in front of the crowd, in Chicago no less, as he’s never received a hostile reception before.

Tony Khan addressing the AEW audience tonight at #AEWCollision. pic.twitter.com/PsE7RZGWoJ

— Denise 'Hollywood' Salcedo (@_denisesalcedo) September 3, 2023