As noted, CM Punk was fired “with cause” by AEW on Saturday, while still the AEW “Real” World Champion in the storylines. His wrestler and employee agreements were terminated after an investigation into the All In incident with Jack Perry while backstage at Wembley Stadium. The release came one week after the successful All In Weekend from London, and during the major All Out Weekend from his hometown of Chicago. Punk and Perry were suspended this past week for their incident at All In, but there was talk of Punk defending the AEW “Real” World Title against Ricky Starks at All Out, likely in the main event. The suspensions and then Punk’s release forced a change in plans, and now Stark will wrestle the returning Bryan Danielson in a Strap Match later tonight. For those who missed it, you can click here for AEW’s announcement on Punk’s departure, which includes a statement from AEW President Tony Khan, you can click here for initial backstage reactions to Punk’s firing from last night’s Collision, and you can click here to see how Khan opened the All Out go-home edition of Collision by informing fans of Punk’s release.
In an update, there are now conflicting reports on a meeting that was allegedly planned, or at least pitched, for Punk and AEW Executive Vice Presidents Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks, better known as The Elite.
One of the biggest backstage incidents in modern day pro wrestling happened almost one year ago at AEW All Out 2022. Punk’s post-show media scrum comments led to a legitimate backstage brawl that put he and longtime friend & then-AEW Producer Ace Steel against Omega and The Bucks. Steel was fired, but has since been brought back in a somewhat limited role, while Punk and the EVPs were suspended and stripped of their respective titles – Punk’s newly-won AEW World Title and The Elite’s newly-won AEW World Trios Titles as inaugural champions. A few other wrestlers also served minor suspensions for their involvement, but everyone had returned to work no longer than 10 months after the incident, with Punk out longer due to a torn triceps suffered in the main event title win over Jon Moxley.
There has been talk in recent months of lingering tension between the two sides, with no real resolution to move on under, and the heat between Punk and “Hangman” Adam Page still an issue. Punk previously claimed that he tried to reach out and apologize to The Elite, but he was stopped by lawyers. Punk said he wasn’t sure if this was ordered by the lawyers or by members of The Elite. Now Nick Hausman adds that Punk has wanted to clear the air, but was told by lawyers that no communication is welcome.
It was also just reported by Hausman that a meeting with Khan, Punk and the relevant members of The Elite was scheduled to take place last week, before Punk traveled to London for his All In title defense over his longtime friend & rival, ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe. The report noted that the “sit-down” was called off at the last minute by The Elite’s camp.
The meeting, which was expected to take place in Atlanta, was intended to bury the hatchet between the two sides as they went into the historic All In Week from London. The report added that the cancellation of the meeting appears to have added to Punk’s overall frustrations ahead of All In and All Out.
However, an update from Bryan Alvarez states that the meeting was never actually booked. It was noted that The Elite were approached with the idea of doing the meeting but they instantly said no.
Furthermore, writer/podcast host Trish Speirs confirms that the meeting was never actually scheduled, and that the request and subsequent denial by The Elite happened more than two weeks ago, not last week before All In. It was noted that the members of The Elite were not comfortable taking a meeting with Punk after his recent “actions/games.” It was also said that Punk wanted back on AEW’s flagship show, Dynamite on Wednesdays, and that he had started going on about putting the rosters together. AEW split the rosters up, for the most part, back in June when Collision launched on Saturdays. The Elite and guys like Chris Jericho were kept on Wednesdays, while Punk and AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR were headlining Saturdays. It was reported that AEW went with split rosters for multiple reasons, but mainly as a way to keep Punk and The Elite away from each other.
Regarding the backstage incident with Punk and Perry at All In, which Khan witnessed, it was previously reported by the Wrestling Observer that a neutral source, who is not a wrestler but was there and witnessed the altercation, said after Perry came back to the back after his pre-show match, Punk aggressively got right in his face, nose-to-nose, and asked if he had a problem. The neutral source said Perry told Punk he was just trying to get heel heat, but that’s when Punk shoved Perry hard. Perry came right back in Punk’s face but Punk sucker-punched him and went for a choke. The neutral source continued and said people immediately broke the fight up while Khan was yelling at Punk to let Perry go, but once they were separated, Punk then “lunged” in Khan’s direction. The same source said a number of people got in Punk’s way as he went for Khan, and during all of this, monitors were knocked to the floor. Punk was yelling, “I quit!” at this point, but Joe, who was also “very upset” at the whole situation, went to calm Punk down as they were to open the show.
Dave Meltzer addressed the “lunged” part of the story on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, and admitted that he was being far too kind to Punk in describing what happened between Punk and Khan at All In. Meltzer originally wrote that Punk “lunged” at Khan, but now he admits he was toning down the language and seriousness of that particular moment by downplaying it a “lunge.” Khan, when opening Saturday’s Collision with a statement on Punk’s departure, mentioned how he felt like his security, safety and life was in danger for the first time ever at a wrestling show, and that Punk also endangered other innocent members of the show who had nothing to do with what was going on between he and Perry.
It was also noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that many people in AEW feel like Punk was trying to get out of the company. Word is that a lot of people have thought this ever since The Elite signed new multi-year contracts in early August, with a feeling that Punk wanted out and something was going to happen.
As expected, multiple sources report that Punk’s AEW departure was a hot topic of discussion at Saturday’s WWE Payback event. There’s obviously new speculation on Punk possibly working with WWE again. It was noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Punk did want to go back to WWE in late 2022 as he thought he could possibly get a buyout from AEW, but WWE decided they would not bring him back if that happened. Fightful Select adds that Punk still has “major heat” with several top people in WWE, and it was reiterated how he was asked to leave when he visited RAW in Chicago several months back. There had been no real expectations or plans for Punk to return to WWE, and most people there did not think he was going to be fired by AEW.
It was reiterated on Wrestling Observer Radio that there’s a lot more to this story, more than what has already been leaked. However, the biggest part of the story is said to be Punk’s fight with Perry, and most of the “big stuff” is already out there.
We noted before, via PWInsider, how some people at Saturday’s AEW Collision tapings were “really down” on Punk’s release, while others were happy and thought this was the right move. There were others who were just happy Khan made a decision so that everyone can move on and focus on the company. A later update added that the fallout from the Punk – Perry incident at All In led many to believe the marriage of Punk and AEW was not going to work moving forward, and many were just waiting around to see what Khan’s decision would be.
It was also noted by Fightful that people on the AEW roster, including several close to Punk, did not know he was being fired as of Saturday. The Punk release announcement stated how a week-long internal investigation was conducted to look into the Punk – Perry All In incident, and after that investigation, AEW’s Discipline Committee met and later convened with outside legal counsel before making a unanimous recommendation to Khan that Punk be terminated with cause. There’s no confirmation yet on who is on the committee, but many people within AEW were interviewed for the investigation.
The update from Fightful notes that there was ongoing discussions between AEW and Warner Bros. Discovery about the on-screen direction of Collision. Security was confiscating Punk fan signs ahead of the show, which was expected. It was also said that up until the end, there was no talk of any real progress on Punk working with The Elite, despite Punk claiming to people that he still wanted to get into a room and talk things out with them, so that they could make something work.
It will be interesting to see when Punk breaks his silence on the whole situation. It could be a very long time before we hear something from The Elite, Perry or anyone else under contract to AEW, if ever. For those still speculating on the legitimacy of what’s being announced by AEW, and reported by others, it was noted by multiple sources that this is not a work or a part of any storyline. As of this writing, Perry is not booked for any of the Chicago shows this week, and he has not been fired, or informed of a firing, at least as of when Punk was let go.
There’s still no word yet on if Punk has any kind of non-compete clause or severance period with his AEW contract, so it remains to be seen when he will be eligible to sign with another pro wrestling company.
On a related note, it was reported earlier how Khan was met with significant heat from the Chicago crowd during his Punk announcement at the start of Collision on Saturday. Khan ended up turning the crowd back around in praising the other hard workers in the company. You can see full fan video below:
Tony Khan in Chicago part 2 pic.twitter.com/LQqYNm8ChW
— I😍Kota Ibushi But He May Be Washed (@prowrestlingvi1) September 3, 2023
Tony Khan in Chicago part 4 pic.twitter.com/AOv4L4maNG
— I😍Kota Ibushi But He May Be Washed (@prowrestlingvi1) September 3, 2023
Tony Khan in Chicago part 6 pic.twitter.com/vU1TYX52UX
— I😍Kota Ibushi But He May Be Washed (@prowrestlingvi1) September 3, 2023
Here was when Tony Khan first came out and was booed so much you couldn’t really hear him. I ran back to my seat after this to shoot the rest. pic.twitter.com/LWNIAL78T1
— I😍Kota Ibushi But He May Be Washed (@prowrestlingvi1) September 3, 2023
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