Why AEW Firing CM Punk Surprises Taskmaster Kevin Sullivan

AEW finally severed ties with CM Punk over the weekend, firing him for his actions backstage at All In. And, while there's been plenty of contentious debate about whether Tony Khan made the right move, former WCW wrestler and booker Kevin Sullivan is stunned that it even came to this. On his latest episode of "Tuesdays with the Taskmaster," he expressed that he didn't see Punk's dismissal coming.

"That really surprises me," Sullivan said. "It shows you how the business has changed. I mean, back in the day, there were scuffles in the dressing room, but it ended up in a handshake afterward. I don't think ... this is not the end of this journey, I don't think."

But Sullivan also shared his support for Khan's ultimate decision, commending Khan for how he went about making such a difficult announcement just hours before "AEW Collision" and the day before All Out — both in Punk's hometown of Chicago. 

"It took a lot of balls on Tony's part to fire him before the show, going into his [Punk's] hometown," Sullivan said. "I salute Tony for doing that because if he had done it today, people would've said 'It was bait and switch.' We all have growing pains, especially in a job that he took over, started a company from scratch, and had a lot of problems. If the problems we heard that got out, how many were there that we didn't hear about?"

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Tuesday With The Taskmaster" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription