Tag: AEW

CM Punk Fired From AEW

All Elite Wrestling on Saturday announced that it has fired top star CM Punk with cause after AEW investigated an incident that occurred during its “All In” pay-per-view show last Sunday at Wembley Stadium in London.

Punk and fellow AEW wrestler Jack Perry, the son of late actor Luke Perry, reportedly got into a physical altercation backstage during the pay-per-view event.

AEW’s statement, which was issued on X (formerly Twitter) said Punk’s wrestling and employment contracts have both been terminated.

“Following the investigation, the AEW Discipline Committee met and later convened with outside legal counsel before making a unanimous recommendation to [AEW owner Tony] Khan that CM Punk be terminated with cause,” AEW’s statement read.

Khan, AEW’s CEO, general manager and head of creative, said in an accompanying statement that he wishes he “didn’t have to share this news” but made the decision “in the best interests of the many amazing people who make AEW possible every week.”

AEW is scheduled to have a pay-per-view, “All Out,” on Sunday at United Center in Chicago, the day after its weekly Saturday “Collision” television show in the same building.

Punk, whose real name is Phil Brooks, is a Chicago native and a major star in the city.

“Phil played an important role in AEW and I thank him for his contributions,” Khan said in his statement. “The termination of his AEW contracts with cause is ultimately my decision, and mine alone.”

To open AEW’s “Collision” show Saturday night, Khan appeared in a pretaped interview and said the incident last weekend was “regrettable” and “endangered people backstage.”

“I’ve been going to wrestling shows for over 30 years,” Khan said on the show. “I’ve been producing them on this network for nearly four years. Never, in all that time, have I ever felt until last Sunday that my security, my safety, my life was in danger at a wrestling show. I don’t think anybody should feel that way at work.”

Punk, 44, returned to AEW in June after suffering a torn biceps in a match last September. After the match last year, Punk engaged in a controversial news conference and then reportedly got into a physical altercation with AEW wrestlers Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson and Kenny Omega, who are also company executive vice presidents.

Punk said in June that he apologized to Khan about what he said in the news conference.

The incident in September 2022 came after AEW wrestler Adam “Hangman” Page went off script in a televised interview segment with Punk, bringing up things the two did not agree would be talked about — and things Punk said were not true.

Punk said nothing was done to Page for the indiscretion.

“It poisoned everything for me, and it made it all really, really ugly, and that was what set all of this off, and here we are over a year later and ain’t s— been done about it,” Punk told ESPN in June.

The belief among people in the locker room was that Punk had gotten another wrestler, Colt Cabana, fired from AEW, or at least tried to do so. Punk and Cabana used to be close friends but had an ugly falling-out that included lawsuits. Punk has denied trying to get Cabana fired. Cabana is still employed by AEW.

Punk has been one of the most popular stars in the pro wrestling business over the past two decades. He is a former two-time WWE champion and three-time world heavyweight champion. Punk is also a former two-time AEW champion. He fought twice in the UFC after leaving WWE in 2014.

Source: ESPN

Below is the announcement by Tony Khan that he has fired CM Punk for cause to open AEW Collision on Saturday night.

AEW Collision Preview 9/2/2023

Tonight’s AEW Collision live from the United Center in Chicago on TNT.

  • Ricky Starks to challenge Ricky Steamboat to a strap match at All Out
  • Dax Harwood vs. Jay White
  • AEW World Trios Championship: Max Caster, Anthony Bowens & Billy Gunn (c) vs. Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard & Angelo Parker
  • Saraya, Toni Storm & Ruby Soho vs. Britt Baker, Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander
  • Dennis Rodman to appear

AEW All Out 9/3/2023 (Card)

AEW All Out – Sunday September 3 at at 8pm ET/5pm PT Live from the United Center in Chicago.

Zero-Hour at 7pm ET/4pm PT

CARD

Kenny Omega vs. Konosuke Takeshita (with Don Callis)

AEW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP:
Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Jon Moxley

AEW TNT CHAMPIONSHIP:
Luchasaurus (c) (with Christian Cage) vs. Darby Allin

AEW TBS CHAMPIONSHIP:
Kris Statlander (c) vs. Ruby Soho

ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP:
Better Than You Bay Bay (Adam Cole and MJF) (c) vs. The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and John Silver)

ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP:
Samoa Joe (c) vs. Shane Taylor

Bullet Club Gold (Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn, Jay White, and Juice Robinson) vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)

Eddie Kingston and Katsuyori Shibata vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta)

Miro vs. Powerhouse Hobbs

STRAP MATCH:
Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks

ZERO HOUR — TRIOS MATCH:
Athena, Mercedes Martinez and Diamante vs. Hikaru Shida, Willow Nightingale and Skye Blue

ZERO HOUR — AEW WORLD TRIOS CHAMPIONSHIP:
The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass Billy Gunn (c) vs. Jeff Jarrett, Santam Singh and Jay Lethal

ZERO HOUR — OVER BUDGET CHARITY BATTLE ROYAL:
Best Friends, Jake Hager, Cool Hand Ange, Daddy Magic, Daniel Garcia, Scorpio Sky, The Mogul Embassy, Dalton Castle, Shawn Spears, Aussie Open, Action Andretti, Darius Martin, Tony Nese, Komander, Serpentico and Hangman Adam Page

I may not have the results posted until Tuesday.

AEW Rampage Preview 9/1/2023

Tonight’s AEW Rampage on TNT

  • 20-man tag team battle royal for ROH Tag Team title shot at AEW All Out
  • Skye Blue & Willow Nightingale vs. Taya Valkyrie & Anna Jay A.S.
  • Hangman Page vs. Bryan Keith
  • Nick Wayne and El Hijo Del Vikingo vs. Kip Sabian and Gringo loco

AEW Dynamite Preview 8/30/2023

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.

  • AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Penta El Zero Meido. The winner will face Jon Moxley at Sunday’s All Out PPV.
  • Adam Cole is set to speak
  • The Acclaimed has teased a surprise for “Daddy Ass” Billy Gunn

CM Punk & Tony Khan Involved In Heated Exchange At AEW All In 2023

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

Jack Perry & CM Punk Are Suspended From AEW

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

Tony Khan Allowing The AEW Roster To Skip Dynamite To Attend Bray Wyatt’s Services

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

Major Backstage Update On The CM Punk-Jack Perry Fight

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

CM Punk Reportedly Escorted To His Locker Room By Security Following AEW All In Match, Jack Perry Was Ordered To Leave

Before CM Punk’s match against Samoa Joe at the All In pay-per-view, Punk and Jack Perry got into an altercation. According to the latest reports, there was allegedly shoving between the two, and Punk had either punched or tried to choke out Perry. The newest episode of the “Wrestling Observer Radio” podcast has given more insight into what happened to Punk after he defeated Joe and went backstage.

“He [CM Punk] goes to the backstage area and immediately there is security there and security escorts CM Punk back to his dressing room,” said Bryan Alvarez. “Jack Perry was then told to leave and he was removed from the building [Wembley Stadium]. CM Punk stayed in his dressing room with security, for I’m not sure how long, but eventually security came and removed him from the building.”

According to a report from Pwinsider, Jack Perry was told to leave the AEW All In 2023 pay-per-view event following his backstage altercation with CM Punk.

CM Punk has remained backstage at the show. Perry was escorted out of Wembley Stadium by security.

Additionally, it is believed that Perry struck first in the altercation and instigated things. Multiple sources have now confirmed that Perry was “caught in a choke.”

During the post-media scrum, AEW CEO Tony Khan acknowledged the altercation and stated there was an ongoing investigation. However, Khan said he would not comment further on the matter.

Punk faced Samoa Joe in the opening match of the All In show, defeating the ROH World Television Champion, while Perry lost the FTW Championship to Hook.

Source: Wrestling Inc.