Former Referee Mike Chioda Weighs In On What AEW Needs To Right The Ship

After a year full of drama, drama, and more drama, AEW and CM Punk have finally parted ways, with AEW owner Tony Khan announcing via a press release, and even publicly in the United Center before "AEW Collision," that Punk had been terminated with cause. While more is expected to emerge from the situation as time goes on, Punk's departure from the promotion ends an era in AEW history that featured equal amounts chaos and success, including the final show Punk appeared on for the promotion, All In at Wembley Stadium.

On "Monday Mailbag," seemingly taped before Punk was fired, former AEW and WWE referee Mike Chioda discussed both AEW's successful All In weekend and the drama surrounding Punk. And he believes he knows the perfect solution to help AEW get a handle of things backstage. "I don't know who runs talent relations, but they need someone," Chioda said. "Jim Ross ... but he's probably too old. He don't need all that s**t, because his phone will never stop buzzing..You need somebody to run talent relations. But whoever ... someone takes over that talent relations role, it's a 24/7 job."

AEW's current head of talent relations is Christopher Daniels, who has had the role, in addition to his wrestling duties, since AEW first formed in 2019. Despite that, Daniels would find himself involved in some of the Punk drama, with the former AEW World Champion reportedly having Daniels banned from appearing at "Collision," in response to Punk's friend and trainer, Ace Steel, also being banned from appearing backstage at AEW shows.

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