Tony Khan Declines To Comment On Reports Of CM Punk Vs. KENTA Match Falling Through

CM Punk and KENTA have been embroiled in a long-running, seemingly one-sided feud on social media for many years now. It has mostly consisted of KENTA calling out Punk for using his trademark Go To Sleep signature maneuver, which is why it surprised so many that Punk's opponent at Forbidden Door will be Satoshi Kojima. After reports filtered in that plans for a Punk-KENTA match were scrapped, curious fans were hoping for answers from Tony Khan as to why. They got none during the AEW President's media call this afternoon.

"This is a really strong card for Sunday's event, I'm incredibly excited about it," Khan said, seemingly ignoring the question posed about the scrapped bout. "[Punk vs. Kojima] is a great hard-hitting match and this is the match I want to see."

Khan continued to praise the quality of the card for Sunday's cross-promotional PPV, raising the bona fides of both Kojima and CM Punk to legitimize the match,. However, he ultimately declining to comment on any reports of a possible match between Punk and KENTA. "As for anybody else that was allegedly going to be involved or allegedly rumored, I really can't comment to that." As a result, what may have happened to make the match not a reality remains a mystery.

Punk vs. Kojima will kick off the 2023 Owen Hart Cup as a first-round match, which AEW is presenting in conjunction with the Owen Hart Foundation to pay tribute to the fallen wrestler for the second consecutive year.