AEW World Champion CM Punk reportedly suffered a serious injury at All Out.
We noted before how there was talk of Punk suffering an injury while doing a dive on Jon Moxley in the main event of Sunday’s pay-per-view, perhaps to his elbow. Now a new report from Dave Meltzer says Punk suffered a serious injury, and he will need to undergo surgery.
Punk is expected to be on the shelf for some time, which means AEW will need a new World Champion. He is reportedly in Chicago right now, not Buffalo, the host city for tonight’s Dynamite.
Meltzer also said it was confirmed to him that no matter what happens discipline-wise over the backstage fight at All Out, that the AEW World Title situation “has to be changed and addressed tonight” on Dynamite. It was also said that the backstage incident at All Out will also be addressed on the air tonight, but there’s no word yet on how in-depth they will go. AEW has to address the situation because titles are involved.
We noted before how AEW was expected to suspend most of the people involved in the AEW All Out backstage fight, including AEW World Trios Champions The Elite, Michael Nakazawa, Brandon Cutler, Head of Talent Relations Christopher Daniels, and Producer Pat Buck. A third-party investigation is being conducted to determine what actually happened on Sunday. There was talk of Punk and AEW Producer Ace Steel possibly being let go, but nothing has been confirmed as of now. It was noted earlier by Fightful that Punk and AEW President Tony Khan met on Tuesday, but this new report from Meltzer notes that Punk and Steel were both scheduled for a 4pm Zoom meeting with AEW officials today. Punk is still expected to be suspended or fired, and the same goes with Steel, but many believe Steel will be let go.
On a related note, it’s been reported that AEW Senior Vice President & Chief Legal Officer Megha Parekh witnessed the backstage incident at All Out.
You can click here for full, updated details on what happened backstage at the NOW Arena on Sunday night, with new accounts of the fight, a statement from police, news on potential legal issues, possible departures, and more.
This injury from the dive at All Out is Punk’s second serious injury in 2022. After winning the AEW World Title from Adam Page at Double Or Nothing in May, Punk injured his foot on a crowd dive while walking to the ring on Dynamite. The injury was made worse in the match Trios match he wrestled that night. An interim title was then created with Moxley winning it at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door in June, and Punk didn’t return until the August 10 Dynamite to confront Moxley. Their first match saw Moxley win the title in around three minutes to unify the two titles, but Punk then won the title back at All Out this past Sunday. MJF made his big return at All Out and became the new #1 contender to the World Title by being revealed as The Joker in the Casino Ladder Match. MJF vs. Punk was rumored for the Grand Slam Dynamite on September 21 Full Gear pay-per-view on November 19.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
Follow Marc on Twitter at @this_is_marc. Send any news, tips or corrections to us by clicking here.