Report: "Altercation" Between The Elite And CM Punk Rocks AEW All Out 2022 Press Conference

By Michael Sidgwick / September 5, 2022

As Tony Khan continued to field questions after an incendiary CM Punk press conference that has already etched itself into wrestling legend, an "altercation", per Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, unfolded backstage.

Righteous Reg of Pro Wrestling Illustrated captured footage of a security guard darting backstage from the press area. Whether this is definitely linked to the report has yet to be fully established, but that report has been corroborated by Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp, who has "heard" that it involved CM Punk, Ace Steel and the Elite.

You're more than likely aware at this point that an incensed Punk buried the EVPs - Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks - as "irresponsible people" who "spread lies" and "bullsh*t". This purportedly did not go down well. No reports have surfaced about the resolution to the reported altercation, if any, although additional whispers heard by Sapp suggest that the Elite were "extremely pissed off" and threatened to "walk".

Inferring the core of the story from various, disparate threads, this appears to have been rumbling for quite some time. Reports of Colt Cabana being quietly dropped by Tony Khan are familiar by now, although Punk was adamant overnight that he has "f*ck all" to do with his continued absence from AEW programming. Cabana is on friendly terms with the Elite, one of whom dropped a very interesting tidbit on Twitter not too long ago:

0 regrets.There’s no career stigma - just a small group of fans that prefer their “simulated combat”. (Which includes a lot of stomp punches, holds that would never end any real fight,and/or move for move recreations of other matches that happened 30 years ago)

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Not for me.

— Kenny Omega (@KennyOmegamanX) July 14, 2022

A subtle shot aimed at CM Punk and FTR, it's ringing out very loudly now.

But who really started it?

And where does it end?

Check back for more details over the coming days...