During a recent Inside The Ropes live speaking event, Rob Van Dam was asked about the recent controversy with CM Punk where he ripped Colt Cabana, Hangman Page, The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega at the AEW All Out media scrum before being part of a backstage fight with The Elite.
RVD also recalled his interactions with Punk in the WWE ECW brand. Here are the highlights:
CM Punk telling him about a backstage meeting in WWE ECW:
“When WWE ECW was around, as everyone knows, shortly after we started I got suspended for 30 days and there was some new guys coming in besides CM Punk like Bobby Lashley and vampire dude [Kevin Thorn]. Anyway, a few guys came in, they were new. I’ve [been] gone for 30 days, when I came back it was the first show back and CM Punk approaches me at the building and he says, ‘Hey, Rob, I just want to let you know, I’m going to have a team meeting in the dressing room.’”
“He says, ‘Of course, this has nothing to do with you. I just want to tell you so you know, like when everyone’s back there and stuff.’ I’m like, ‘What? You’re locker room leader, like what happened?’ But some people are comfortable just taking that position of control and moving forward and I don’t know. I kind of think he’s one of them. In the meeting, he said, ‘Somebody’s been stealing from the bags in the dressing room and we know it’s one of the boys.’ He said to me, ‘Obviously we know it’s not you.’”
Punk being very strict on his code of ethics backstage:
“I mean, I hadn’t been around but nobody would blame me for that. But just as an example of you know, of seeing CM Punk’s sternness, I don’t think he’s real flexible in his code of ethics. I think he lived by a real strict guideline where he’s like, ‘What, is somebody offending me? Am I offended? Should I be offended right now?’ I feel like that’s his energy.”