AEW All Out 2023 Media Scrum: CM Punk’s Status for All Out, Billie Starkz Injury, WrestleDream & Mercedes Mone, Terry Funk, All In

AEW CEO Tony Khan held a media scrum on Thursday to promote this Sunday’s All Out 2023 event at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

Some of the notable highlights included:

• On the topic of the changes made to the original plans for this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show, Khan stated that it reminded him of the Pandemic Era of AEW in regards to several talents being not available due to illness and travel-related issues causing them to do some last minute pivots to their original plans.
• On the topic of CM Punk’s status for the upcoming All Out 2023 event, Khan stated “We’re still continuing to investigate an incident that happened before All In, I can’t comment any further about it at this time. I appreciate you asking. If I could say more at this moment, I would. I’m still looking into some things. I promise, I’ve always done my best to be honest with the fans. In this situation, I’m doing my best to be honest about what’s happening and have been looking into this. We’ll get back to you as soon as we possibly can, I promise.” Later in the media call, Khan stated that he hopes to have an answer for this for fans by this Sunday. Khan stated “That is my goal. I promise, that is what I hope, that we have a resolution. I don’t expect a full resolution, but I at least expect more information by then. I’m going to keep working on it. It’s a challenging situation to say the least and not something I was hoping to be dealing with.“
• On the topic of if AEW will do back-to-back pay-per-view events in the future, Khan stated that AEW currently has next year’s All In event scheduled and we will see what happens. Khan stated that one important aspect for them is the three-day weekends for Labor Day in the United States and this past weekend’s bank holiday in the United Kingdom.
• On the topic of the status of Ring of Honor’s next PPV event and the current ROH integration in AEW, Khan praised Athena’s current run in ROH and ROH Women’s World title reign. Khan also praised Claudio Castagnoli, Samoa Joe, Adam Cole and MJF, and the Gates of Agony’s work in ROH. Khan also confirmed that the next Final Battle event for ROH will be taking place later this year.
• Khan also stated that he currently has plans for Billie Starkz and Athena to compete in a match at All Out’s 2023 Zero Hour pre-show but this all depends on if Starkz can recover in time from her recent injury for the event. Khan stated “I was with Billie Starkz at the arena last night and waiting for her to get cleared because she had an injury. I don’t think it’s anything that is going to be long-term or super serious. Hopefully, she will be back soon. I was hoping to get Athena and Billie involved. If Billie does get cleared, I’m still optimistic I can get them a match on Zero Hour.“
• On the topic of AEW’s upcoming WrestleDream event and Mercedes Mone’s status for the event, Khan stated “One of the great stars involved in New Japan, who I have a ton of respect for, is Mercedes Mone. I think we have a good relationship, and I think she’s one of the greatest wrestlers on the planet. It was great to have her at All In. She’s not available to wrestle right now, but when she does wrestle, I think she’s as good as anyone and one of the best in the world. I have so much respect for her as a competitor. Certainly, she’s one of the top stars in the world. I don’t know if she would be physically cleared at that time. I’m not expecting that because she had a major injury. When she’s cleared, that is someone we’re really interested in working with.“
• On the topic of if there had been plans for a bundle deal for AEW’s All In and All Out 2023 events, Khan stated that this was something that he tried to do since it made a lot of sense but was unable to get it done due to not being able to get all of AEW’s PPV carriers to agree on the same terms and bundle for it.
• On the topic of PPV buys for All In, Khan stated that AEW’s All In event will likely end up as their #2 PPV event of all-time in terms of buys.
• On the topic of what he and AEW’s roster could learn from Terry Funk and his legacy, Khan first praised Funk for being one of the greatest ever wrestlers of all time. Khan also stated that while he never got the chance to meet him, Tommy Dreamer did try to setup a potential meeting one time. Khan also stated that it is hard to articulate the greatness of someone who is so much better than everyone else and that there are great wrestlers today who will keep Funk’s legacy and name alive.
• On the topic of which matches for All Out 2023 that he is looking forward the most to watching, Khan gave his choices of the Kenny Omega vs. Konosuke Takeshita match and the AEW International Championship match of Jon Moxley vs. Orange Cassidy (c). In regards to Omega vs. Takeshita, Khan stated that this was something Omega has wanted to do for years. In regards to the Moxley vs. Cassidy match, Khan stated that this was a match he wanted to do for the past three years but held it off for a special occasion.
• On the topic of why AEW did not schedule any AEW television shows in the United Kingdom during All In week, Khan stated that the reason was due to him not wanting anything but All In at Wembley Stadium to be their first show in the United Kingdom.
• On the topic of AEW’s recent All In event, Khan praised everyone who had appeared and worked at the event and was thankful for them.
• On the topic of the Young Bucks and FTR teaming up at All Out 2023, Khan stated that he feels that it is a big deal to have FTR and Young Bucks teaming up since they would consider themselves as competitors and not as close friends.

Full AEW All Out 2023 media scrum audio: F4WOnline.com

Source: PWInsider.com, Fightful.com 1, 2, & 3