Tag: CM Punk

Samoa Joe says CM Punk All In incident no big deal to him: ‘I’m used to that environment’

Samoa Joe says he was more focused on the match ahead of him at AEW All In than the backstage incident that led to CM Punk’s firing.

Even in a pro wrestling world full of hyperbole, it’s hard to overstate how big the backstage incident at AEW All In London between CM Punk and Jack Perry turned out to be. Not only did it lead to Punk’s eventual firing (and an indefinite suspension for Perry), but it nearly forced an on-the-fly card change during AEW’s biggest show to date.

Of course, when you’re a veteran of the wrestling business like Punk’s opponent that night, Samoa Joe, one who’s seen everything and been a champion around the world, you’re much less likely to be rattled by what may appear to others as absolute backstage chaos.

That’s exactly the tone Joe took during his interview with The New York Post’s Joseph Staszewski, when the ROH World Television Champion was asked if the situation at Wembley Stadium was as “intense as it sounded.”

That’s up to whoever perceived it. I’m used to that environment. Those things don’t seem very intense to me, but it could be something crazy intense to someone else. I wasn’t really affected by the moment. I was more focused on getting the show back on track and getting us going because it was bell time.

Joe also noted without saying in so many words that with Punk gone, there’s a chance for everyone in AEW to step up and show what they can do (“There’s more time for everybody now. Everybody knows that.”). He feels it’s not only the veterans, including himself, that are rising to the occasion, but that people throughout the company can and will do so.

Maybe it’s easier to be so zen when you are both feared as a competitor and respected as a locker room leader like Samoa Joe. It’s still amazing to consider that as a pivotal person in what was likely the wildest behind-the-scenes moment in pro wrestling this year, he was pretty much unaffected to the point where he went out and had a great match in Punk’s AEW swan song.

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Bryan Danielson finds silver lining in CM Punk’s AEW departure: ‘It’s a chance to bring people closer’

Bryan Danielson thinks AEW talent has a chance to learn from and come together over CM Punk’s abrupt departure.

The “next man up” mentality is often employed in sports when a teammate sustains an injury or leaves the team, necessitating someone to step up in their place. When AEW terminated CM Punk earlier this month, it caused a similar instance.

AEW had Punk as a headliner for Collision and as a top talent for pay-per-views, but with him gone, Bryan Danielson‘s return from a broken arm was perfectly timed. He not only took Punk’s spot in the Strap match with Ricky Starks at All Out, but became the pseudo-face of Collision.

The ramifications of Punk’s departure will probably continue, as it’s still fresh in the minds of all involved. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Danielson addressed how the former AEW World Champion’s absence will impact the roster moving forward, saying everyone will move forward and it’s “a chance to bring people closer” amid adversity.

“In any job, when you lose somebody who’s very important, or you lose somebody you really like working with, that’s hard,” said Danielson. “But everyone keeps doing the job. And any time there is loss or controversy or struggle inside an organization, it’s a chance to bring people closer. It’s also a chance to divide people. So you have this thing where you can use struggle to make your life worse, or you can use struggle to make your life better. When I lost my father, I came out on the backside. I was worse. Struggling with my depression, I’ve come out of it better. So how you approach something and how you learn from something, that’s what makes the difference.”

Basically, everyone must keep moving forward in their job, regardless of how they feel about Punk leaving. This is something that applies to any occupation, and in this case, the AEW locker room.

AEW will have lessons to learn from this situation to grow, and it will be interesting to see how they come out of it. As Danielson says, that will be the most significant factor of all.

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CM Punk will be able to wrestle again if he wants to — maybe even in WWE or AEW

It wouldn’t be surprising to see CM Punk pop up again, even in the places that once fired him.

When you’re a proven draw in pro wrestling, it’s hard to burn any bridges forever. Even getting fired doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the end of the road, and CM Punk may put that idea to the test.

Punk recently entered dubious but rarified air by becoming the first person to be fired by both WWE (after he walked out on the company in 2014, citing health concerns) and AEW. For many wrestlers, those would be things that would give other promotions pause about doing business with him.

But Punk is an outlier, as even past his prime, he has proven to help boost ratings, live ticket sales (at least in some important markets, like his hometown of Chicago) and perhaps most of all, merchandise. For companies other than WWE and AEW, those qualities might simply outweigh the negatives.

Dave Meltzer certainly thinks so. In the latest issue of his Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required), he says Punk “could walk into Impact with open arms tomorrow, or New Japan Pro Wrestling soon enough if he would choose to.” It’s not hard to see why; Impact is No. 3 in the U.S. market and could use the notoriety Punk would bring them, and NJPW is in the middle of a concentrated effort to raise its profile in this country.

As for WWE, the risk/reward calculus is a bit different. The industry leader is bigger than any one performer, and Meltzer thinks “there would be people arguing in both directions on him.” The return of Cody Rhodes, however, proved that stars returning to WWE from AEW can move the needle, and if anything, the curiosity factor around Punk would be even higher.

That leads to the most eyebrow-raising possibility of all, which is Punk returning to AEW sometime down the road. Could that actually happen? Here’s what Meltzer thinks:

If he doesn’t sign with WWE, it wouldn’t shock me if he even returns to AEW at some point, but admittedly there would be a ton of resistance to that.

On one hand, that idea seems preposterous since Punk was a multi-time offender when it came to backstage altercations that required suspensions. On top of that, AEW boss Tony Khan gave fear for his safety and that of other AEW employees as one the reasons he terminated Punk’s contracts.

But let’s imagine an AEW two years or so in the future, one where it’s having trouble drawing fans to shows at places it visits regularly. Maybe the luster of All In London has faded and the sequel in 2024 doesn’t bring nearly the same size audience. Let’s say it has a new TV deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, but Collision is wilting under the heat of sports competition on Saturday nights and the pressure from AEW’s broadcast partners is on.

That’s not to say what is definitely or even likely to happen, as AEW has made a habit of defying the odds more often than not. Yet those are all things well within the realm of possibility, and if some of all of them come to pass, who’s the one person Khan knows that would help alleviate those issues?

All of this is assuming, of course, that Punk isn’t simply so fed up with the wrestling business that he decides to just walk away for good this time. If he doesn’t, however, it’s very likely that he’ll have many options for continuing his career, even in the places that once wanted him gone.

Chris Jericho says he talked with CM Punk before he went out ‘on top’ at All In

As it turns out, Jericho and Punk didn’t talk about anything particularly revelatory before the fateful events of AEW All In.

By now, almost the entire pro wrestling world has weighed in on CM Punk being fired by AEW last week. Perhaps surprisingly, one person who hadn’t was Chris Jericho, one of a handful of people who can legitimately say they bring the same (or even more) mainstream name recognition to AEW.

That changed on the most recent episode of his podcast, Talk Is Jericho. The Ocho revealed that he spoke to Punk before either of them wrestled at AEW All In London at Wembley Stadium, though the conversation was nothing revelatory and was mostly about different moves Jericho might use against Will Ospreay that night (h/t Wrestling Observer).

I don’t want to dwell on this or talk about it but I should address it. Of course, CM Punk no longer with AEW, and Wembley was his last match, what a way to go out. I did talk to him briefly. I was going to do a Frankensteiner off the top and I know that he does that sometimes so I was just curious if he was doing it. I went and talked to him for a bit and asked him if he was doing it, he wasn’t. Then I told him I was going to do the GTS with a straight face and I think for a second he thought that I was going to and I was joking, of course.

Jericho added that as far as what went down between Punk and Jack Perry, which eventually led to Punk’s contracts being terminated by AEW once an internal investigation concluded, “it’s a regretful moment what happened but Tony Khan made his decision.” He gave credit to Punk for being “a big part of AEW” and said that he “went out on top, for sure,” since his final match with the promotion was at Wembley.

While Jericho has a point about Punk’s farewell coming on AEW’s biggest event (by a wide margin), it’s highly unlikely anyone involved would agree that his firing constituted going out “on top.” The new, Punk-less era of AEW, of which Jericho will continue to be a big part, begins this week.

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Tony Khan addresses CM Punk’s firing on AEW Collision, says Punk endangered his life

Explaining his firing of CM Punk, Tony Khan said his safety and life felt threatened for the first time ever at a wrestling show.

CM Punk‘s run with AEW ended Saturday when an investigation into a backstage incident with Jack Perry at All In at Wembley Stadium resulted in his termination with cause. AEW’s announcement happened just hours before the company continued its week in Chicago with a live episode of Collision and All Out at the United Center on Sunday.

Punk’s fans have forever been vocal in their support of him in the Windy City, taking over shows with their chants. So as Collision began, AEW CEO, GM and head of creative Tony Khan addressed the viewers on TNT about his decision.

Khan said that Punk had put innocent people backstage at risk and that, for the first time in AEW, he felt his security, safety and life were threatened at a wrestling show. He said no one at work should not have to feel that way and, as a result, he let Punk go.

Khan also spoke to the live audience before Collision began, drawing a mixed reaction.

After two years of controversy, Punk’s time with AEW has come to an end. It once appeared to be a match made in heaven, but from “Brawl Out” to “Brawl In,” backstage conflicts marred everything he did in the ring.

Khan publicly supported Punk before this and essentially built Collision for Punk to be the focal point. It was a weekly show for Punk and those he didn’t rival backstage, and it seemed to be working fine for a few weeks. However, information soon arose about how Punk was handling things, from banning people from Collision to the off-air promo on Hangman Adam Page. It made a boiling point seem inevitable.

All Out provides the perfect opportunity for AEW to put the chaos of the past week behind them and shift their focus to the action in the ring. Easier said than done with this pay-per-view in Chicago as the first step, but it’s step one in the fallout.

No one wins from CM Punk’s departure from AEW

AEW had to fire CM Punk. But things should never have reached this point.

After two years of drama, fights and sneak dissing through the media, the CM Punk saga in All Elite Wrestling has ended.

On Saturday, AEW founder Tony Khan released a statement through the promotion’s social media platforms that officially announced that he — and he alone — terminated Punk’s contract with cause, effective immediately.

The announcement came hours before AEW presented Collision in Punk’s hometown of Chicago and one day before AEW hosted its second pay-per-view in as many weeks … also in Punk’s hometown. It could get pretty awkward for AEW this weekend in the Windy City.

This may come as a surprise (this is sarcasm), but the discourse around Punk’s departure on social media was devoid of any nuance. One on side, you had people loving the fact Khan finally put his foot down while the other side was lamenting the fact that AEW’s biggest moneymaker — Khan’s words, not mine — was now gone.

In my eyes, there is only one way to look at the entirety of this situation: Everyone loses.

Punk loses because he lost his job with a promotion that gave him basically everything he wanted, including his own prime time show.

AEW loses because … it had to fire Punk. I highly doubt when AEW first signed Punk, it was hoping to fire the guy two years in. Also, Punk could feasibly waltz right over to WWE and make his long-awaited return. While that is not guaranteed, if it does happen, that does obviously not help AEW.

I know some people saw Punk as a cancer inside AEW’s locker room and that his unceremonious exit is merely addition by subtraction. Given all of the reported drama, Punk hurting the morale of the locker room doesn’t sound like something that is outside of the realm of possibility.

However, Punk was the promotion’s top draw. Again, those were Khan’s words, not mine. How does a promotion losing its most notable star help? The locker room sans Punk could very well be a healthier work environment, but that does not guarantee AEW sells more tickets or gains more viewers on television. It just means everyone likes each other and nothing more. It does not guarantee that it will translate to a hot product on screen. Sure, it could help, but those results are not promised.

Two sides not being fond of each other is nothing new in professional wrestling. We have all watched and listened to countless documentaries and podcasts about the drama behind the scenes in professional wrestling. Hell, it’s basically the entire ethos behind the industry’s premiere docu-series, “Dark Side of the Ring.”

Yet AEW seemingly had no idea how to handle all of the egos at play, let the situation grow out of control, and lost its stop star as a result.

At the end of the day, this should have been nipped in the bud a long, long time ago. I figured the melee at last year’s All Out would be the worst of it. I figured all of these grown adults would learn from that embarrassment and either get on the same page or eventually just let bygones be bygones.

Instead, they did neither, making themselves look very immature in the process. On top of that, the drama overshadows all of the quality wrestling AEW produces on a weekly basis. Even when AEW set a world paid attendance record for pro wrestling last week at Wembley Stadium, most people were discussing the nonsense involving the AEW locker room and how messy it was.

To me, all of that did a disservice to everyone who helped AEW reach such exemplary heights.

So what now? For Punk, it could mean a return to WWE. It could also mean he is done with wrestling all together. For AEW, it is time to pick up the pieces from a disaster it could have avoided months ago. Ideally, AEW — from top to bottom — will learn from this situation and never allow it to be replicated again. Because what good actually comes from it all?

Regardless of what happens next, we should look back on Punk’s two-year term with AEW as a slew of missed opportunities due to egos that were never put in check.

And because of that, everyone lost.

CM Punk fired by AEW ‘with cause’ after All In incident investigation

Though a committee made a unanimous recommendation for termination, Tony Khan said the decision was ultimately “mine alone.”

CM Punk‘s tenure in AEW was sometimes wildly successful, sometimes tumultuous, but it’s now come to an end after two years.

AEW released a statement Saturday announcing that it had “terminated the wrestler and employment agreements between Phillip Brooks (CM Punk) and AEW with cause, effective immediately.” The statement explained that the decision was made following an internal investigation into the backstage altercation between Punk and Jack Perry at AEW All In, after which both men were suspended.

While the AEW Discipline Committee made a unanimous recommendation in favor of Punk’s termination, Khan said the choice to part ways rested ultimately with him in the end.

“Phil played an important role within AEW and I thank him for his contributions,” Khan said in the statement. “The termination of his AEW contracts with cause is ultimately my decision, and mine alone. Of course, I wish I didn’t have to share this news, which may come as a disappointment to many of our fans. Nevertheless, I am making the decision in the best interests of the many amazing people who make AEW possible every week — our talent, staff, venue operators and many others whose efforts are unsung but essential to bringing our fans great shows on television and at arenas and stadiums throughout the world.”

The timing of the announcement is notable because AEW is preparing to hold All Out in Punk’s hometown of Chicago on Sunday night. Considering that the it’s the one place that has treated Punk like a babyface during his current run, it’s likely to be a much more hostile environment for the show in the wake of this news.

Part of the reason crowds in other places had turned on Punk is that this wasn’t his first offense. After a now infamous post-event press conference rant last year at All Out, Punk was part of a brawl with The Elite that led to suspensions for him and others.

He was also injured while performing at that show, taking him our of action for the remainder of 2022 anyway. Punk only made his return on June 17 for the premiere episode of Collision, and now, two and a half months later, he’s done for good.

Though Khan had often spoke in glowing terms of Punk’s contributions to AEW both creatively and to the company’s bottom line, there was always some curiosity about where the line was that would force him to stop supporting Punk. It’s finally been crossed, and a chapter of AEW history that is sure to be dissected repeatedly in the months and years to come has come to a close.

Here’s how close the AEW All In match order came to changing after CM Punk-Jack Perry incident

Several different tag teams and wrestlers were asked to potentially open AEW All In before CM Punk and Samoa Joe went off as planned.

CM Punk and Samoa Joe opened the historic AEW All In card last week at London’s Wembley Stadium, competing for Punk’s “Real” World Championship. But thanks to Punk’s backstage altercation with Jack Perry, which resulted in both men being suspended while AEW investigates exactly what went down, it was almost someone else who came through the curtain first.

Tony Khan and his crew even asked several other performers if they could be ready to go if needed, which is one of the fascinating tidbits on the Punk-Perry incident in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required). According to Dave Meltzer, “the announcers and production people were told to stall because at this point nobody knew if Punk vs. Joe would happen.”

Meltzer said that Khan asked FTR and the Young Bucks if they could go on first instead, but that the teams weren’t quite ready yet since they assumed they’d be on later. Others were asked as well.

Kenny Omega then offered to have his six-man tag go first, since they were scheduled for second anyway and were pretty much ready, and the Bucks vs. FTR would start early as well. They asked others, including Chris Jericho and Will Ospreay, to go out earlier but they also weren’t ready since Jericho’s match also included his singing his entrance. At least some of those involved, if not all, were not told at the time what the reason was when asked although the word traveled very quickly.

Samoa Joe was reportedly the one who was able to calm down Punk enough to go through with their match, preserving the planned order of the show. But it’s interesting to see just how close Khan came to needing to improvise on the spot during the biggest event in AEW’s history.

As of Friday afternoon, there still hadn’t been an update on Punk’s status for All Out, which is set for the United Center in his hometown of Chicago this Sunday. It’s fair to wonder if the near reshuffling of All In will have any bearing on his fate once Khan considers everything that went down.

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Critics don’t bother CM Punk since legends ‘put their stamp’ on him

CM Punk is aware some people don’t like him, but thanked the veterans and legends who believed in him.

CM Punk and AEW had an eventful week filled with controversy, backstage fights and rumors. All of this somewhat overshadowed All In, which saw 81,000 people fill Wembley Stadium on Sunday, just as “Brawl Out” consumed All Out 2022.

AEW has since suspended Punk, and it appears unlikely that he will be part of All Out on Sunday at the United Center. It’s a loss for pro wrestling fans of Chicago who bought tickets to see the Real World Champion, and Ricky Starks may have taken the biggest hit of all from the ordeal.

Between conflicts, Punk, introduced by Ace Steele, spoke at Cauliflower Alley Club’s Annual Awards Banquet for over 40 minutes in an appearance that had been scheduled since May. In his speech, he addressed that while some people don’t like him, he values the pro wrestling legends who stand by him (h/t Haus of Wrestling for transcription).

“I know throughout my career, I probably rubbed some people the wrong way,” Punk began. “Some people like me, some don’t. What I’ve always had was the backing of legends. Teal, your father, who’s my hero, Roddy Piper. Roddy Piper is the reason I’m a wrestler today, and I remember the last time I saw him, he told me he was proud of me.

When people tell me that they don’t like me, or the internet’s mad at me. I just kind of chuckle because Roddy Piper liked me. Dusty Rhodes liked me, and the backing of Harley Race before I even went to the WWE. To me, that means more than all the money in the world, but because these legends put their stamp on me before anybody knew who I was. It gave me the confidence, and it gave me the ability to succeed in a place where I didn’t think I’d ever fit in.”

Punk has faced plenty of detractors this past year, but he appreciates those who have supported him throughout his pro wrestling career. It’s difficult to deny his career success, and those who have helped him along the way clearly impacted his work.

Why Ricky Starks might be the big loser from the CM Punk-Jack Perry All In altercation

The AEW All In backstage drama may have cost Ricky Starks a big match.

The backstage altercation between CM Punk and Jack Perry at AEW All In was obviously suboptimal for a company in the middle of its biggest show ever. It’s also less than ideal for Punk to be suspended for All Out this weekend in Chicago (assuming his suspension lasts that long), where he’s the biggest draw. Yet there’s also collateral damage in situations like this in the form of opportunity costs to other talent.

In this case, that sounds like it applies to Ricky Starks. While he’s been serving a storyline suspension, it conveniently was timed so that he could have a match at All Out on Sunday, though he’s nowhere to be found on the card.

According to Fightful Select (subscription required), there’s a reason for that: He was being considered for a match with Punk.

One of the matches on the table was CM Punk vs. Ricky Starks for the AEW Real Worlds Championship, which would have followed up their series of matches that went down this summer. From what we’ve heard it likely would have been the main event. There’s no word on the status of the match now that CM Punk was suspended after his physical altercation with Jack Perry.

AEW has certainly pushed Starks as a bigger star and given him more of a spotlight since Collision launched this summer, but his most recent plot twist that has kept him out of the ring has robbed him of some momentum (for what it’s worth, Fightful also says he isn’t injured).

A main event spot with Punk in Chicago obviously would have made up for that in a big way, but it’s possible that opportunity has fallen by the wayside if Punk is out of the picture for All Out.

That looks like the case, since Tony Khan has promoted a different potential match for Starks based on this Saturday’s episode of Collision:

 

A match against a legend like Ricky Steamboat isn’t nothing, and it makes sense in the context of Starks beating him down with a belt earlier this month. It’s just not the same as competing against the biggest name in the company in that person’s hometown.

Hopefully AEW finds a way to do right by Starks in the near future, but his predicament is a good example of how the kind of backstage drama that popped up again at All In can affect more than just the people involved.