CM Punk Fired - Tony Khan did the best thing for AEW

I want to preface this blog with this, what is written here is my own opinion, I'm an AEW Fan and none of us (apart from Tony Khan and CM Punk) fully know what the full situation. Its merely my opinion on the CM Punk saga in AEW and what Ultimately led to his demise within the company

It's been just over a week since CM Punk was fired by AEW for cause. Tony Khan went out in front of the world and the hometown of himself and CM Punk, Chicago to inform them that CM Punk was no longer wrestling for AEW and had been terminated. 

See the video below via Youtube of Tony Khan announcing CM Punk firing from AEW.

CM Punk joined AEW on August 20 2021 amongst so much fanfare in Chicago at AEW Rampage it was an emotional moment and incredible moment, something we thought we would never see. 

You can see CM Punk return below from AEW Youtube channel (which has been viewed over 16 Million times!)

It made people feel happy, the thoughts of the dream matches, the feuds, the promos and the excitement level really made it feel like AEW was going to be propelled to another level.

On a personal level in 2021 I was so happy to see CM Punk back and i really thought it would be great to have another run for Punk, after getting into a bad headspace in WWE in 2014 and eventually leaving and being away for long so, that the passion and love for pro wrestling was back.

CM Punk had some great feuds in that first year there is no denying that MJF, Eddie Kingston, MJF, Jon Moxley but the one I want to focus on is Hangman Adam Page as this is where it all felt like it changed. Watch the video below to see the promo that changed the course for CM Punk in AEW 

Adam Page told CM Punk he wasn't defending the title against him he was defending AEW from him. Adam Page was referencing CM Punk attitude and rumors that CM Punk was trying to get former friend Colt Cabana fired from All Elite Wrestling, because of Punk dislike of Cabana, now none of us as fans knew of this at the time, but CM Punk didn't know Hangman was going to say what he said live in the mic, this incident made CM Punk very unhappy and looking back this planted the seed for what was to come going forward.

After CM Punk return from injury following the match with Hangman Page, Punk faces Jon Moxley at All Out 2022 Punk wins the match but in what has become known as "Brawl Out" after the show CM Punk is in post media scrum and he goes off on everybody, Adam Page, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, AEW the way its run.

You can watch CM Punk comments from All Out 2022 below (from Denise Salcedo Youtube) 

Following this press conference backstage CM Punk, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and a number of other talent get into a backstage fight over the comments' made by CM Punk. This backstage fight gets broken up by security and then leads to the next day an announcement from Tony Khan that The Elite (Omega and Young Bucks) and CM Punk have all been suspended and all titles have been stripped from them also.

CM Punk at the same time had a tricep injury and went away from AEW for 9 months. 

The return of CM Punk would take place on a brand New AEW Show called AEW Collision on 17 June 2023, Punk was touted as being "collison exclusive" and "head of collision brand" which was not a bad idea, have him working on that show giving him something to get his teeth into and hopefully keep him engaged and happy.

However sadly things started to change again, not long after being back it was reported that CM Punk would not allow certain AEW Employees in the building for example Head of Talent Relations Christopher Daniels, Matt Hardy, Isiah Cassidy, Ryan Nemeth amongst others this seemed very bizarre behaviour and allegedly CM Punk did not want anyone associated with Young Bucks/Kenny Omega on "his" Collison show and felt that if his trainer an AEW employee Ace Steel wasn't allowed to certain shows then same should apply to others.

Following on from this there was then a report from 4FW Online which reported the following 

“Jungle Boy had a vacation planned. He wanted to do a pre-taped angle with a car to write him off TV for that week. Punk told him no. He felt it was too dangerous to do a broken glass spot and said they cared about safety. Jungle was upset about that"

That brings us to AEW All In the biggest paid wrestling show in the world 81,035 fans in attendance (of which i was one!) to watch a tremendous night of wrestling from Wembley Stadium.

Now from a personal perspective how things unfolded for me as a fan at All In.

I got in early 15:40 we were in our seats, we see Miro/Hobbs Segment and also Paul Wight/Jeff Jarrett segment then comes Zero Hour. The crowd were crazy for MJF/Cole winning ROH Tag Titles, following that we head to Hook vs Jack Perry for FTW tite.

We are in the stadium we see Jack Perry make his entrance in a car, then they are fighting around the car and we see Jack Perry say something to camera but we have no audio in the arena so think nothing of it, that match finishes then next match on PPV is Samoa Joe vs CM Punk.

Joe is out first then Punk is out next and as Punk is making his way to the ring to alot of loud boos from the London crowd which surprised me, but AEW fans were letting Punk know what they thought of him.  My phone starts going off, i look at it and it says "Punk in fight with Jack Perry at All In" i turn to my friend and show him and he says "cant be so bad otherwise we wouldn't be out here"

We didn't know at the time, but we watched CM Punk last match in AEW. 

The fight between Perry and Punk was alot worse than we originally thought and the matter was investigated by people outside of AEW who made recommendation that CM Punk be let go from the company.  

Tony Khan had to take the right course of action, CM Punk had only been back 77 Days since his return on 17 June 2023 and there had been issues and problems since his return and just didn't seemed destined to work, you can't endanger people backstage and you have to be able to be professional, not lose your temper and create a bad working environment for yourself and others around you. 

Jack Perry shouldn't of said what he said to inflame and start the situation to begin with however Punk shouldn't be fighting in a backstage tunnel at Wembley mere minutes before he goes out for AEW biggest ever show.

CM Punk attitude and demeanour didn't seem right since his return and maybe this is best for all involved. Maybe this is Best for CM Punk too, Wrestling seems to bring out the bad in him, from walking out in WWE in 2014 to being let go by AEW in 2023, Wrestling doesn't seem to bring out the positives for him.

Tony Khan did the best thing for AEW future he was left with no other choice 

Thanks for Reading 

@jon422002

Jonathan Orchard