CM Punk Called “Selfish & Arrogant” By Top WWE Star
WWE stars reacted to CM Punk’s backstage altercation, with multiple top stars believing him to be “selfish.”
The bloody battle that led CM Punk to defeat Jon Moxley and become a two-time AEW World Champion was only a fraction of the story that surrounded the Chicago native that night in his home city. At the post-show media scrum, CM Punk took aim at Hangman Adam Page as well as the company’s EVPs Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. His issues with The Elite apparently stem from stories Punk feels were leaked by them in regard to his former friend Colt Cabana’s role in AEW.
Because of CM Punk’s comments, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks allegedly threatened to walk out of the company, and they reportedly confronted him in his locker room after the media scrum.
Reports continued to pour in throughout the day regarding details of the surreal situation, and not only were punches thrown, but Ace Steel reportedly threw a chair at Nick Jackson and grabbed Kenny Omega by the hair before biting him.
Fightful Select heard responses to the situation from numerous talents in WWE, with one top star saying this seemed very much like the behavior of the CM Punk they knew years ago.
Two talents reached out to Fightful with regard to believing that if the situation is a work, it must be an elaborate one, as they’ve both heard individually that the situation is very real. They both separately expressed confusion as to why Tony Khan, who was present during the media scrum, wouldn’t provide clarification after CM Punk buried those who serve as both AEW EVP’s and top stars on AEW programming.
One top WWE star who Fightful called a “longtime main eventer” called CM Punk’s actions unprofessional, and went so far as to call the AEW World Champion “selfish and arrogant,” a sentiment echoed by others in WWE as well.
A WWE official who got in touch with Fightful was said to agree with Tony Khan’s recent comments that dissension between wrestlers isn’t necessarily bad for business, but they believe in extreme situations such as this someone needs to exert power to make it clear that certain actions aren’t acceptable. That official also said that situations like this rarely occur in WWE in recent years, and with the exception of the altercation between Chris Jericho and Brock Lesnar, talent would be fired if it did (as was the case with Alberto Del Rio).
A notable quote from another top WWE talent was that if CM Punk and the AEW EVP’s can’t put their personal feelings aside to work this situation into an angle and make money off it, “none of them have business talking about drawing houses or losing fans or interest. They have a good show but this is still the biggest piece of business they’ve done and they have to capitalize.”