Wrestling veteran Jim Cornette has weighed in with his opinion on the situation regarding CM Punk's injury and an interim AEW World Champion being crowned. The former WWE manager even gave his thoughts on who would be the right person for Tony Khan to put into that spot.
On the June 3rd edition of AEW Rampage, CM Punk announced that he would need surgery to heal a foot injury days after winning the world championship from Hangman Page at Double or Nothing 2022.
In the wake of this announcement, the decision was made to crown an interim world champion rather than strip Punk of the title. The champion will be crowned at the upcoming Forbidden Door pay-per-view on June 26th.
Speaking on the latest Jim Cornette Experience, Cornette suggested that the best person to win the interim AEW World Championship is Bryan Danielson.
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“Tony Khan, this is his opportunity. He can go from the outhouse to the penthouse, turn chicken s*** into chicken salad, [Bryan] Danielson wins the battle royale, Danielson beats [Jon] Moxley. We can’t have the belt on Moxley again that would be repugnant. Danielson goes to the Forbidden Door pay-per-view, Danielson can work with all the Japanese guys that’s his wheelhouse and have a good match with whoever the New Japan guy is and Danielson can be the champion.” (4:09-4:51)
Cornette also mentioned that having Danielson as the interim champion would naturally set up a match that many AEW fans have been waiting for since they both signed with the company, CM Punk vs. Bryan Danielson.
“However long [CM] Punk’s surgery recuperation is, then when he comes back the real champion versus the interim champion and you’ve got CM Punk vs. Bryan Danielson. That’s the only way that I can see that Tony Khan can make up for the let down, and it’s not Punk’s fault everybody gets hurt, the timing was impeccable here as it usually is with anything like this. Now somebody’s got to follow this for the next couple of months. Can anybody on that roster do it but Danielson?” (4:52-5:34)
Tony Khan has got a lot of injuries to deal with at the moment
It seems as if the injury bug has spread its wings across the wrestling world in recent weeks, as not only is CM Punk injured, but it appears that many stars of Tony Khan's roster are feeling the burn as of late.
Jeff Hardy was pulled from the June 1st edition of Dynamite due to potentially not being medically cleared to compete following Double or Nothing. After this, it was revealed that TNT Champion Scorpio Sky had injured himself in a match against Dante Martin.
All of this was rounded off by the news that Cornette's chosen one, Bryan Danielson, was medically not cleared to fly for a meet and greet over the past weekend.
Add Cody Rhodes' torn muscle from Hell in a Cell, and you've got a wave of injuries that no fan ever wants to see, but how quickly can everyone return? Only time will tell.
Please credit the Jim Cornette Experience and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling when using quotes from this article.