CM Punk Shares How AEW Felt When He Visited WWE Backstage

CM Punk used some interesting words to describe how All Elite Wrestling reacted to his backstage WWE visit while he was still under AEW contract.

The thought of CM Punk being back in WWE isn’t a big deal now because he returned to the company in November 2023 at Survivor Series. That was Punk’s first time at a WWE show while under contract to the company, but it wasn’t his first time at a WWE show in 2023.

There was a story in April 2023 that shocked the wrestling world when it was reported that CM Punk was backstage at a WWE show in Chicago in April 2023. This was at a time when Punk was off AEW television recovering from a torn left triceps injury and he would return to AEW TV in June 2023 when AEW Collision was launched.

During a lengthy interview with Ariel Helwani on MMA Hour, Punk talked about how he went backstage to a WWE show after seeing a lot of WWE talent on a plane. Punk spoke about talking to WWE Producer Jason Jordan and how Liv Morgan helped him find his earbuds on the plane because he dropped them.

Since WWE had a show in Chicago, Punk was invited to the show. Punk is friends with Bayley, who is close with Punk’s wife AJ Lee, so he went to see her and others he knows there. After visiting with talent for several minutes, Punk was told to leave by Vince McMahon, who wasn’t there, but still had authority at that time.

CM Punk would go on to tell Helwani that he wasn’t going there to look for a job or anything like that. Punk said he was just visiting.

“I went to visit people, I’m the old-timer in the business and there’s a show in town. I wasn’t trying to get a job or anything, I literally just to say hi to Bayley and a few other people.”

How Did AEW People Feel About CM Punk Going Backstage At A WWE Show?

While continuing to talk about his unscheduled WWE visit, Punk said that people in AEW felt betrayed that he would go to another company’s show.

“Oh yeah [people in AEW were mad] … I think the word ‘betrayed’ was used, I was like, ‘alright man.’ As a company you’re allowing people to go on other company’s television shows to do things — I went backstage to say hi to friends. Two completely different things. So, if you’re gonna be mad about it, okay.”

Elsewhere in CM Punk’s revealing interview, CM Punk denied making Tony Khan feel like he was in fear for his life and also took some shots at how Punk runs AEW.