AEW has been a tremendous success by any standards in its first three years, and many wrestlers have spoken about how they enjoy working there. But the ongoing CM Punk situation shows that even a company with wrestlers among its founders isn’t immune to backstage drama.
This has been a big week for it, for sure. Punk was on the Aug. 17 episode of Dynamite, the first time he’s had a live mic in months. His show-opening promo turned memorable quickly, as he called out Hangman Adam Page in an unscripted moment that felt awkward as it was happening.
Fightful Select subsequently reported that things might be worse than they seemed for Punk, who was said by sources to be upset enough that they thought he might skip Dynamite. But there he was, exchanging words and blows with Jon Moxley, with their title unification match getting moved up to next week, ahead of All Out.
Having Punk be unhappy just a year into his much publicized AEW tenure would be bad enough on its own, though it’s difficult to understand from the outside looking in what would make him so dissatisfied. He has been booked strongly throughout, had a chance to work with both younger talent and veterans, and generally been at or near the top of the card.
It appears the anxiousness on the roster may run deeper than just Punk, however. In the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer gave his take on the situation.
Right now there is a ton of backstage drama involving many of the top guys that has gotten much worse in recent weeks. There’s a part of me where I just think Tony Khan needs to sit everyone down and air everything out before it gets worse. … It feels like a number of people are close to their breaking point if things don’t get settled.
As Meltzer pointed out later in the newsletter, AEW is facing a newly revitalized competitor, saying “WWE becoming the ‘cool’ promotion came at a bad time.” It can’t afford for things to spiral out of control, and that means stabilizing things from the top down, throughout the roster.
AEW had a big test early in its existence in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic and passed with flying colors, adapting to life without fans and coming out the other side stronger. This a whole different challenge, however, and finding a way to solve it could help set a foundation for continued growth and success, while failing it would be a big step back.
One thing’s for sure: There’s likely more to come out over the next few weeks, and the whole wrestling world will be watching.