AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS from the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, IL.
Tonight’s show is the fallout from this past Sunday’s All In and will also serve as the go-home show for this Sunday’s All Out pay-per-view at the United Center in Chicago.
We have even more details on what went down before Sunday’s AEW All In 2023 pay-per-view event went on the air, including potential issues between Tony Khan and CM Punk.
According to a report from Wade Keller of PWTorch, CM Punk was already said to have been pissed off about not being picked up at the airport by anyone associated with AEW. Instead, he took a train to his hotel and got lost along the way. It’s worth noting that Punk wasn’t aware at the time that no one from AEW was picked up at the airport due to travel issues and shuttles not being available. So he wasn’t being singled out.
The report notes that Punk reportedly approached Tony Khan in front of other people in his locker room. Punk came at the AEW President in a “heated, intense manner” and “chewed out Khan with harsh phrasing.”
CM Punk almost didn’t come out for his match with Samoa Joe to start the show after his backstage fight with Jack Perry. Joe was reportedly furious about the situation and had to convince Punk to go out to the ring. While Joe was able to calm Punk down enough that he would agree to continue on with the match, both men were not happy about what had just unfolded. It is said that as of Tuesday morning, CM Punk and Tony Khan had not spoken.
Both CM Punk and Jack Perry are suspended from AEW, with Punk being informed of his suspension through his lawyer. One source said CM Punk appeared to be saying “goodbye” while in the ring and walking to the back just after his match with Joe. There are some rumors that the relationship between CM Punk, Tony Khan, and AEW is beyond repair at this point.
CM Punk and Jack Perry will not be wrestling at All Out 2023 in Chicago, IL on Sunday unless the suspensions are lifted. Of course, Punk is a big draw in his hometown of Chicago.
Finally, it was added that CM Punk has been fined for previous incidents. One source said that Punk was fined in the “five figure range” for his off-air comments about “Hangman” Adam Page following a recent episode of AEW Collision.
On Tuesday’s edition of Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez confirmed what was already known from several weeks ago, which is that Jack Perry wanted to use real glass for a segment on AEW Collision. This is something CM Punk refused to allow on “his brand” and told Perry that if he had a problem with it, he could go work on Wednesdays.
While CM Punk’s side put out a story about Jack Perry wanting to do the spot so he could get “cut” and avoid working the following week, Perry had a pre-planned vacation.
While the glass spot involving a limo on the “Zero Hour” pre-show at AEW All In 2023 was approved, Jack Perry’s comments during the match were not. Alvarez said,
“The issue from the Jungle Boy side was the belief that ‘I got this okayed, it was cleared with the company and then this guy didn’t let me do it.’ He felt ‘he’s not letting me do it because I’m friends with The Young Bucks.’ That was what was in his mind, apparently.”
As far as CM Punk’s All In 2023 travel issues are concerned, Alvarez said,
“I have heard two versions of this story. One version is that CM Punk arrived, nobody was there, he couldn’t get a hold of anybody and so he decided that he was going to take the train. The other version I heard is that when he arrived there was nobody there but he did get a hold of people and he offered or they asked if he wanted to take the train. But that he was fine with taking the train. That’s the other story that I heard…”
He continued, “The question that everybody’s asking, why did this guy not take an Uber or a cab? When we were there, there were two occasions when we were in the UK where it was impossible to get an Uber. We opened up the app and it was ‘no drivers available.’ Maybe that happened to CM Punk, I don’t know…it is possible that he could not get an Uber.”
Alvarez also provided details on what happened after Jack Perry’s match with HOOK on the AEW All In 2023 “Zero Hour” pre-show. He stated,
“Jack goes through the curtain…He goes through the glass and they’re working on his cuts. This was shortly before the show was supposed to go on the air. CM Punk walks by and he says ‘do you have a problem with me?’ Jack Perry says something to the effect of ‘well, you heard what I said out there.’”
This led to Perry telling Punk that if he had a problem with what he said, he should do something about it. This led to pushes being exchanged, ending with Punk putting Perry in a choke. Samoa Joe broke things up.
AEW President Tony Khan reportedly witnessed the fight, and there are reports that it happened so close to him that several monitors were knocked onto him. Alvarez stated,
“CM Punk, according to several people said something to the effect of, ‘you know I can beat your ass, right?’ Then there was an incident. It was very quick…Pretty much 100 percent (of the witnesses said) Punk made the comment and either shoved of pie-faced Jungle Boy, grabbed him in the guillotine front headlock and it was immediately broken up. Samoa Joe was right there, everybody was right there. Nobody got their ass kicked, there was nothing like that.”
He continued, “They got close enough to Tony Khan that I believe monitors were knocked down onto Tony Khan. He was right there and he saw everything and a lot of people were right there and they saw everything.”
“Several people said he [CM Punk] threatened to quit and he didn’t want to go out for the match…I believe they went to FTR and The Young Bucks and they were like, ‘can you guys open the show?’ and the response was, ‘we’re not ready to open the show.’ Then they went to the six-man with Kenny and Hangman and all those guys and they were like, ‘can you open the show?’ and they were like, ‘I guess we can’ and so they were getting ready to go out. I was told that Joe was furious. He’s at Wembley, there’s 80,000 people there and he’s about to go out and apparently, he talked Punk into doing the match.”
Source: eWn
Bianca Belair was written off WWE television after an injury angle that took place on last week’s episode of WWE SmackDown. The angle featured Belair being attacked by Damage CTRL in a backstage segment.
According to a report from Fightful Select, the reason she was written off WWE television is due to some pre-planned time off.
WWE was well aware of the fact that Belair would be taking some time off and it was factored into their creative plans. As of this writing, there is no word on how long she will be away. The reports vary from it being less than a month to as much as three months.
Finally, it was added that Belair has received high praise for her WWE Women’s Championship reign and the amount of media and community events she attends.
Source: eWn
Awesome Kong will be making her return to in-ring action at the Impact 1000 taping, which takes place on September 9th in White Plains, New York.
You can check out the updated lineup for Impact 1000 below:
* Ultimate X Match: Competitors TBA
* Feast or Fired Match: Competitors TBA
* Team 3D vs. TBA
* Awesome Kong vs. TBA
* Frankie Kazarian & Traci Brooks vs. Eddie Edwards & Alisha Edwards
WWE NXT in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center on the USA Network:
Bray Wyatt tragically passed away at the age of 36 last Thursday after suffering a heart attack.
According to a report from TMZ, Wyatt had been experiencing a series of heart complications in the months leading up to his passing. At least one doctor had recommended that he wear a heart defibrillator at all times.
The official police report from the incident states that Windham Rotunda (Bray Wyatt) told his girlfriend (JoJo Offerman) that he was going to take a nap. After about an hour, his alarm clock went off and she became concerned when it wasn’t stopping. JoJo then entered the bedroom and found Bray on his bed and not breathing. The report also noted that he was turning blue at that point.
JoJo Offerman immediately called 911, while her mother attempted to perform CPR.
The family told police that Wyatt had battled a case of COVID-19 in March 2023 and developed heart complications. The family said he became incredibly sick and it caused him to have a “weak lower part of his heart.”
TMZ is also reporting that Windham was hospitalized for a heart issue just one week before his passing. On the day he died, he had a follow-up appointment with doctors and they encouraged him to continue to wear an external heart defibrillator.
As far as that external heart defibrillator is concerned, Rotunda was not wearing it at the time of his death. Police later found it in his vehicle that was parked in the driveway of his residence.
We continue to keep the family and friends of Windham “Bray Wyatt” Rotunda in our thoughts and prayers.
Source: eWn
CM Punk and Jack Perry have been suspended from All Elite Wrestling, Sports Illustrated has confirmed.
Punk and Perry had a physical altercation at last weekend’s AEW All In event and neither man attended the post-All In afterparty.
Perry made a reference to using real glass during his Zero Hour with Hook, in a nod to Punk taking issue with him wanting to use real glass for a segment on AEW Collision.
The two men reportedly pushed each other backstage before Punk used a chokehold, while Punk’s All In opponent Samoa Joe tried to mediate the situation.
Following All In, it was reported that there was a belief among talent that both men had been suspended, pending an investigation into the matter.
Sports Illustrated has since confirmed this report, stating,
CM Punk and Jack Perry have both been suspended for an altercation before the start of the All In pay-per-view, Sports Illustrated has confirmed.
Bryan Alvarez has also reported that both men have been suspended and will face an investigation into what transpired in Wembley.
Source: eWn
There could be a few top names missing from this week’s or next week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, as Tony Khan is allowing any talents in his promotion who want to attend Bray Wyatt’s services to do just that.
According to a report from Fightful, Khan notified the entire roster on Monday that they are not required to attend AEW Dynamite if they want to attend the services for Windham Rotunda. The AEW President is more than willing to re-write episodes of Dynamite if need be.
As of this writing, there is no word on when Bray Wyatt’s services will be taking place but many talents who will be attending the services will need some travel time.
Source: eWn
As you all know by now, CM Punk and Jack Perry were involved in a physical confrontation at Sunday’s AEW All In 2023 pay-per-view event.
According to a report from PW Torch, CM Punk was threatening to quit All Elite Wrestling in the “heat of the moment.” Punk was said to have been incredibly frustrated backstage after the incident and was fiercely defending himself.
Multiple sources say CM Punk has made it crystal clear that he wants a drama-free locker room environment, which is something he has largely achieved on AEW Collision due to the fact that there’s a lot of people he likes working on the brand. Of course, there have been a few exceptions. It’s become abundantly clear that Punk controls the Collision locker-room and is able to put restrictions on who is and isn’t allowed to be in it.
The report notes that several people on the AEW production team were notified at the last minute that they may have to change the match order of All In 2023 because of the incident. Of course, CM Punk and Samoa Joe kicked off the show and the incident came just minutes beforehand. There was brief concern that there’d have to be a delay in the start of the show as they scrambled to get the graphics ready for a different match. It was said that Punk was quickly able to regroup and the match went on as scheduled.
As far as the altercation itself is concerned, it is said that CM Punk was watching the Jack Perry vs. HOOK “Zero Hour” kickoff match on a monitor backstage. So clearly, he heard Perry’s comments about the limo windshield being “real glass.” Punk reportedly asked Perry if there was a problem when he came through the curtain. Perry told Punk that he started something online a few weeks ago and if he had a problem with what he said on camera, he should “do something about it.” This led to a shoving match between both men and an eventual choke by CM Punk. There are conflicting reports as to whether a punch was thrown.
The belief is that the online incident Perry was referring to has to do with Punk’s camp purposely leaking the glass incident story to make Perry look bad. As we previously reported here on eWn, the two men got into a verbal altercation after Punk told Perry that’s not something they do on the Collision brand and if he had a problem with it, he could go back and work Wednesdays. Sources from CM Punk’s side say he was simply providing “veteran wisdom” to steer him away from that type of violence.
Perry reportedly believes that the story being leaked was done by CM Punk and his camp to “show him up or embarrass him.” This is the reason why he used the “Zero Hour” pre-show to “fire back” with some unscripted and unapproved comments.
One veteran wrestler stated that AEW President Tony Khan has no control and has fostered an environment where younger wrestlers feel that they are free to “go into business for themselves.” Another veteran wrestler says Punk overreacted here and should have let it go.
At this point, most of the blame for this latest incident is being placed on Jack Perry, although there are others who feel otherwise because they’re close to CM Punk. But overall, it was said that Jack Perry knew exactly what he was going to get himself into with his unscripted comments.
Many people in AEW are upset over the incident and believe everyone should have been talking about what they accomplished with All In 2023.
Finally, there is an internal investigation underway and both men are reportedly suspended from All Elite Wrestling for the time being. Most believe Perry will face more ramifications than Punk.
Source: eWn
Impact Wrestling will be making some big changes to its production facilities at Skyway Studios in Nashville, TN, which has caused some changes in their taping schedule.
According to a report from Pwinsider, a talent and crew meeting was held before Monday night’s TV tapings in Toronto, Canada. During the meeting, it was announced that “massive upgrades” will be coming to Impact’s production facility this fall to bring “state-of-the-art production technology and advances.”
Due to the renovation, it will simply not be possible to edit and produce. It is said that the process will take around a month to complete. Additionally, it’ll take a few additional weeks to get the staff used to the upgraded system. Several sister companies are expected to assist with Impact’s production while the upgrades are being completed.
The TV tapings for the remainder of the year will undergo some changes as a result of the upgrades taking place. As far as the near future is concerned, there will be no conventional TV tapings taking place. Instead, the company will be taping TV at live events.
The upgrade process will also include less talents being used in the coming months. Anthem will be paying “day rate” talent for extra days for the rest of 2023 to help make up for the missing days.
Most of Impact Wrestling’s upcoming UK events will be taped for episodes of IMPACT! on AXS TV. Additionally, there will be a new IPWF 80s-style throwback taping in Toronto. That show will take place on November 11th at Santino Marella’s Battle Arts Academy. Impact Wrestling will also being holding a joint show with Lucha Libre AAA in Mexico in November which will air as an episode of IMPACT! on AXS TV.
The Final Resolution 2023 pay-per-view event will take place on December 9th. The Hard To Kill 2024 pay-per-view event will take place in January in Las Vegas, NV.
Finally, it was added that no talent releases are coming as a result of the schedule changes. The company will go back to using its full roster again in 2024.
Source: eWn
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