Details Of Investigation Leading To AEW Firing CM Punk
There are some details regarding All Elite Wrestling’s investigation into the actions of CM Punk, which led to the company releasing him.
Even though it was a week full of multiple pay-per-view events featuring a lot of outstanding wrestling, the news of AEW firing CM Punk last Saturday has dominated the headlines.
After all, CM Punk was one of AEW’s biggest stars who not only had a wrestler contract but had an employee contract as well. As a former two-time AEW World Champion who was viewed as one of the company’s biggest stars.
An incident happened at AEW All In London on August 27th where “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry, who is now suspended, confronted Punk backstage. Words were exchanged, there were reports of punches thrown, perhaps some choking involved and others having to break it up. All of this took place right before Punk wrestled the first match of the night against Samoa Joe.
Following this incident, Tony Khan said at the All In London press conference that AEW would be investigating. It is believed that Khan was sitting right there when the Punk-Perry altercation happened, which made people question why an investigation was needed.
AEW Conducted Thorough Investigation Prior to CM Punk Being Released
In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer revealed that AEW did a thorough investigation while also hiring an outside legal firm before it was determined that they needed to fire CM Punk.
“The investigation evidently included the Jaguars/Khan/AEW own legal staff, as well as an outside legal firm the company hired with no affiliation to AEW or any of its talent, both conducting investigations. They reviewed the footage and spoke to all the witnesses. They also spoke to several of the top wrestlers about the totality of the situation regarding Punk and others, not having anything to do with the incident and who were not there to see the incident itself nor asked about the incident but asked about the big picture.”
“Both groups recommended to Khan, unanimously he said, that Punk be terminated. But those were only recommendations and it was Khan’s decision. Khan easily could have kept it under wraps and waited until after the PPV in Chicago, the market that would be the most sympathetic to Punk. Instead, as soon as the investigation ended and he made his decision, the company announced the firing and before the live television show started, he went in front of a very hostile live crowd in Chicago.”
That hostile crowd was at the September 2nd edition of AEW Collision in Chicago, which led off with Khan announcing that Punk was fired.