By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Forbes interview with Al Snow
Interview conducted by Alfred Konuwa
Available at Forbes.com
Snow on CM Punk’s departure from AEW: “Punk’s got a very strong personality. The problem with Punk is you have to have strong leadership, and you have to have as strong a personality as the talent do. And that’s where things can go astray.
“I think Tony Khan’s a really good guy, but I think for the sake of AEW in these situations—they always come up, the Punk situation is not an unusual circumstance—we’ve had those type of things happen here. But there’s a certain modicum of respect that I have, and as a result, I’m able to direct those people even when those situations occur.
“I don’t worry about being liked, I worry about being respected. I think Tony wants to be liked, and he should be more focused on being respected. There were lots of times I didn’t like Vince McMahon. He can be an incredible bully. He could be nasty. I’ve always respected him. Always.”
Other topics include a behind the scenes look at OVW, which is featured in the Netflix series “Wrestlers”.
For some crazy reason I think Punk could work in Impact. There’s strong enough leadership to keep his bullshit under control. With Callihan, Eddie Edwards, Kazarian, Moose, Alexander, Myers,Maclin & Eric Young in the locker room, I don’t think he’d dare try anything. They’d put the kibosh on his antics straight away.
There’s no Tony Khan in that locker room. There’s leadership.
I hope Snow realises that calling someone an “incredible bully” and then saying you respect him is not a good thing.
Punk would probably be better off anywhere that doesn’t have a toxic environment full of entitled millennials. Whether he was the “problem” or not, that AEW environment brought out the worst in him.