On Friday's AEW Rampage, CM Punk announced that he had a broken foot that required surgery. Punk said he offered to relinquish the AEW World Title, but Tony Khan wouldn't let him.
Instead, AEW will crown an Interim AEW World Champion at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door when an AEW star takes on Hiroshi Tanahashi or Hirooki Goto.
Appearing on Busted Open Radio, Tony Khan commented on his decision to go with an Interim AEW World Title.
"Based on what happens in real fights, in the world of fighting, this is what you do. You have a great champion, and if they are injured, you name an interim champion and set up an exciting unification fight. We have a great chance to set something exciting up," he said.
AEW Dynamite on June 8 will open with a Casino Battle Royale. The winner will face Jon Moxley in the main event and the winner of that bout will go on to AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.
Speaking about Punk's injury, Khan said, "It is a setback, but we're really excited to get CM Punk back. He's going to have surgery here quickly and I'm very nervous, but pretty optimistic because he's going to be seeing one of the top doctors in the entire world and someone really renowned in sports medicine. We were fortunate to get him in quickly. We're excited to get him back."
It is unknown when Punk will return to the ring.
Fightful will have live coverage of AEW Dynamite beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
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