Ex-WWE Star On CM Punk – “He’s Always Had A Temper”
A former WWE star has commented on CM Punk’s infamous All Out meltdown and suggests that the injury he suffered on the night may have played a part.
The events following AEW’s All Out pay-per-view in September 2022 are the stuff of wrestling legend. CM Punk defeated Jon Moxley for the AEW World Title in the main event and at the post-show media scrum, he tore a strip off several members of the AEW roster including – albeit without directly naming them – The Young Bucks.
This led to The Bucks allegedly confronting Punk in his locker room with all hell breaking loose soon after. Those three men along with Kenny Omega and company producer Ace Steel were subsequently suspended with The Elite returning at Full Gear and many believing that Steel has been fired.
Speaking on the Bootleg Universe Podcast, former WWE star John Morrison explained why he thinks the injury suffered by Punk in his main event bout won’t have helped the champ’s mood at the press conference:
“You know what’s crazy? I listened to the audio before I watched the video. It was funny listening to it and just picturing because my friend had told me that he’s right next to Tony. He’s always had a temper when things don’t go his way, and in his defense, what he wants is to make it. He’s a guy that wants to make it, and screw anything that gets in his way. That was his mentality then, and I think it still is now.”
“I think sometimes though, personally, I’ve got destructive self-energy, and if anything doesn’t go my way, I’ll lash out, but I lash in and beat myself up. Punk does both. So him and Mox, he won the championship back. I don’t know exactly the extent of his injuries, but I think he tore something, like his upper triceps or something, which is very frustrating, especially when you get to beat his age.”
“He’s basically my age. When you get hurt, it’s not like getting hurt in your 20s. It takes a lot longer, and it’s not necessarily the pain that’s upsetting. It’s the knowledge that, okay, if this is a fully torn triceps, that’s six months to a year before it’s functioning at close to 100%. If you come back earlier, you can re-injure it. So there are probably a lot of things that are going on in his head.”
“I battle with constantly that I didn’t move exactly how I wanted to move. I still, when I close my eyes, picture myself as 25. Of course I can’t move that way. That’s what happens when you get older. The years go by, and there’s diminishing returns to your effort physically. You work harder to be able to be function less athletically. That’s just a fact of science. That’s what happens when you age.”
“So he’s frustrated because he’s got this big opportunity to carry a company, he’s got this huge paycheck, and he tears triceps. I think stuff like that, it’s not hilarious that he got hurt, it’s actually the sh*ts. He’s one of the people in the business of pro wrestling that changed the course of the industry, and it’s never cool to see anybody like that get hurt.”
John Morrison then explains that he does find it funny how CM Punk dealt with that frustration, lashing out at everyone including his former friend Colt Cabana who Morrison says Punk is “obsessed” with:
“What I think is funny is how he dealt with it. In some ways, he just lashed out at the entire AEW roster. Whether they deserved it or not, I don’t know. From his point of view, they did. From my point of view, professionally, I would never personally say that about a lot of the roster just because I don’t think it’s good business.”
“But on the other hand, that’s what he’s known for, and he just reverted to character, like dropping [a] pipe bomb. He’s upset, and he just reverts to, ‘I’m gonna blow the whistle on MJF, on everybody I don’t like on this roster, screw them, screw Colt Cabana’ [laughs]. He’s obsessed with Colt Cabana. ‘Screw everybody. Everything’s bothering me. I’m just gonna air it out right now and call everyone on their crap.”