"I'm very nervous about it" - AEW executive gets honest about CM Punk undergoing major surgery

AEW President Tony Khan has opened up about current AEW World Champion CM Punk's upcoming surgery. Although he has maintained his composure in public, Khan has admitted that he is nervous about it.

Punk announced to the AEW fanbase on the June 3rd edition of Rampage that he will be stepping away from the ring to rehab a foot injury he picked up in a match involving FTR, The Gunn Club and Max Caster.

While the severity of the injury has not been officially revealed, the fact that surgery is involved indicates that Punk will be out of the ring for a prolonged amount of time.

Speaking on the most recent edition of Busted Open Radio, Tony Khan spoke about CM Punk's surgery in a little more detail. He admitted that while optimistic due to the reputation of the doctor, Khan is nervous about his top champion going under the knife.

“Yeah there’s a lot of positives, and it is a setback, but we are really excited to get CM Punk back and he’s going to have surgery here very quickly and I’m very nervous about it. But on the other hand pretty optimistic because he’s going to be seeing one of the top doctors in the entire world who’s really renowned in sports medicine and we were very fortunate to get him in quickly. So I’m excited to get him back and I’m excited for tonight’s Dynamite on TBS." said Tony Khan. [30:03-30:36].

The strength of the AEW roster will be on full display over the next few weeks while Punk is on the shelf, and the only way to see that roster is by tuning in each and every week to AEW TV.

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An Interim AEW World Champion will be crowned in CM Punk's absence

Despite being put on the shelf, CM Punk was not forced to vacate his AEW World Championship. Instead, an interim champion will be crowned for Punk to unify the titles with when he makes a full recovery.

But who will be the man to carry the torch in Punk's absence? On the upcoming episode of AEW Dynamite, the number one contender will be crowned, as the winner of a casino battle royale will meet Jon Moxley in the main event of the show.

The winner of the match will face either Hiroshi Tanahashi or Hirooki Goto, who will face each other at the NJPW Dominion event on June 12th. The title match will take place at the upcoming Forbidden Door pay-per-view on June 26th in Chicago, Illinois.

A unification match will take place later on in the year between Punk and the interim champion, but who will that man be? Stay tuned to AEW TV to find out.

Please credit Busted Open Radio and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling when using quotes from this article.