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Rumors of CM Punk no longer being on AEW have set the pro wrestling community abuzz with speculation lately.
The Second City Saint has been absent from AEW TV since the backstage brawl at the All Out media scrum.
Recent reports of the Second City Saint's contract being potentially bought out by AEW have many fans believing that Punk's time in the Jacksonville-based Promotion is over. With no official statement being released yet, his future remains unclear.
Speaking about Tony Khan's decision regarding the matter on Jim Cornette Experience, Jim Cornette stated the following:
"Now the problem is Tony has allowed his lack of leadership and the people he chose to do business with who were all mortified that real talent came in the company and showed them up and outgrew 'em and outperformed 'em, and they [The Elite] couldn't take it. And they wanted to get him out of the way," said Cornette.
The veteran said that if Punk doesn't return to AEW, but other suspended stars do, then it will be clear that Tony Khan doesn't want his business to grow.
"Now if Tony does buy this contract out and Punk doesn't come back but the other j*ckoffs do, then we will see again that he doesn't want this business to get bigger. He wants to play with his action figures and promote indie-rific outlaw style wrestling, because that's what he likes." (6:09 - 6:55)
Will Tony Khan try to keep CM Punk on his roster in any way? Only time will tell.
WWE veteran Dutch Mantell also blamed Tony Khan for the issues in AEW
Jim Cornette isn't the only one who is critical of the All Elite president, as Dutch Mantell also seemed to lean towards blaming Tony Khan recently.
On the latest edition of Sportskeeda's SmackTalk, Mantell stated that if Tony Khan wants to restore the locker room harmony, he should quit trying to be friends with his employees.
"It never works out because the inmates end up running the asylum, and he's got to deal with all the aftermath. Like CM Punk doing that scrum interview and Tony sitting right beside him, and he would say something detrimental...and Tony agreeing with him."
As of now, it remains to be seen what Tony Khan plans to do further in AEW.
Do you agree with Jim Cornette? Sound off in the comments below!
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