What Happened After AEW Collision Went Off Air

For AEW Collision viewers, the debut episode on June 17 went off air after the main event saw CM Punk return, but more happened.

After CM Punk’s themed finished playing, his tag team partners, FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) and Punk shared their thoughts with the crowd.

Thanks to PW Insider, a transcript of what was said at the United Center in Chicago has now been released.

Dax Harwood starts off by addressing the crowd, saying:

“On Saturday night, June 17th in Chicago, f*cking Illinois. It’s great to be a pro wrestler.

“Hey, listen, Chicago, AEW. Sometimes I can get a lot of flack for being this man’s best friend. Sometimes, yeah yeah. Sometimes I can get a lot of heat for speaking the truth.

“What I want to tell you is AEW houses the best professional wrestlers in the world. AEW houses the most passionate professional wrestlers in the world.

“And let me tell you, regardless what the journalists want you to think, it ain’t Dynamite versus Collision, it’s AE God damn W.”

During this speech, Harwood would bring (quite literally) a fan to the ring, who would be discussed later on by Punk.

CM Punk looked at the past ten months and said:

“Listen up real quick. I could talk to you guys for 90 minutes. The last 10 months of my life, there’s been a little bit of a hell.

“But I got a buddy named Chad who’s got cancer real bad, and all of my woes, and all of my pissing and moaning and crying, is a fraction of what I watch him go through. And he’s still positive, and he fights when he gets chemo.

“So me saying, “Oh, I hurt my tricep, and maybe somebody on the internet in their mom’s basement doesn’t like me.”

“That’s all horse shit. I love each and every single one of you, even the guy who spelled my name wrong on that sign.”

“Also, hey, listen. I didn’t know what I was walking into. I was told everybody hates me. And there’s a big part of me that said, “Good, I’m going to make a lot of money.”

“But it did feel nice coming out here and feeling the love.”

Punk would then turn his attention to the fan now in the ring, revealing:

“This young man’s name is Colby. I saw his sign. I recently… Listen. I recently reposted something from Pretty Cool Ice Cream.

“I don’t know if you guys were here two years ago. I bought y’all ice cream. I would’ve done it again, but I thought y’all hated me.

“We’re coming back soon, don’t worry. You better hope I don’t hate you before then.

“I reposted something from Pretty Cool Ice Cream, it was an ice cream bar that some of the proceeds or if you purchased a bar, went to support trans youth.

“Listen, I got a lot of hate for reposting that message. Somebody in particular, don’t know who it is, nameless, faceless person on the internet said, “Why do you support that trash?” And I thought about replying, but you can’t argue with stupid, okay? You just both look stupid.

“The reason I support trans kids, trans grownups, gay, straight, lesbian, whoever, is because I know when I was growing up, I didn’t fit in anywhere, but it was because of the clothes I wore, what my hair looked like, the music I listened to.

“Those are all things I could rectify. I could cut my hair. I could listen to jazz. I don’t know what. But to be somebody who’s gay, lesbian, especially trans, I don’t know what it feels like to be trapped in a body that I don’t feel I belong in.

“That is why I support that. I didn’t fit in anywhere until I found pro wrestling and all the freaks and geeks in the locker room were just like me, maybe because they’re a little bit psychotic and they couldn’t hold on to a real job, but that’s another story.

“Support trans kids. Support gay and lesbian rights. I want everybody to be themselves. Just do no harm to everybody else. Thank you. I love you.”

CM Punk and FTR (CMFTR) teamed up to face Samoa Joe and Bullet Club Gold (Jay White and Juice Robinson) in the main event at AEW Collision.

Earlier it was reported that the backstage reaction to the Chicago debut had been positive.

Transcript from PW Insider.

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