At last August's AEW All In, CM Punk and Jack Perry got into a scuffle backstage after the latter took a shot at the Second City Saint during the pre-show. Punk was fired by Tony Khan and Perry was suspended until eventually returning as a heel in an angle that saw him beat up the AEW President in one of the year's worst segments.
Punk returned to WWE, a shock to Khan considering the fact he claimed the Best in the World left him in fear for his life (comments he likely believed would stop anyone from wanting to work with the outspoken wrestler).
After the Second City Saint broke his silence on the All In incident and Khan's failings as a boss, AEW decided to air the footage on AEW Dynamite...likely hoping it would somehow embarrass or discredit Punk.
Spoiler alert: It didn't work.
Things played out almost exactly like Punk said and a bizarre attempt was made to make the footage part of The Young Bucks' ongoing feud with FTR. It felt like the creative we saw in the dying days of WCW from Vince Russo and ultimately just made Punk - who now works for a different company - look badass.
In a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer - a steadfast supporter of Khan and AEW - reflected on his talks with Khan about the decision to air the footage and acknowledged that it still doesn't sit right with him.
"I have discussed this with him. You have no idea how much and it’s always the same thing that he believes that that was a key to getting that [TV] deal," he explained. "So I will tell you, I mean, in every discussion, there is not even a thought in his mind that he made a mistake there."
"If it helped making the deal, then he’s right," Meltzer continued. "But I, you know, certainly didn’t think long term it was the right thing, even though, yes, it did help make Jack Perry a star. I just didn’t think it was positive for the company in the big picture."
At the time, the footage gave AEW Dynamite a noteworthy ratings bump for a show that drew 819,000 viewers and 880,000 for the Punk-Perry segment. While Khan believes that helped secure a new TV deal, it's done little for ratings since.
For example, the latest episode drew only 574,000 viewers and the special "Holiday Bash" edition before that averaged only 625,000 viewers.