The Self-Destruction Of CM Punk In AEW | Wrestling Timelines
September 4, 2022 - Brawl Out
CM Punk defeats Jon Moxley to regain the World title. It’s a great match. It does not matter. In the aftermath, Punk is confronted by MJF, back from his Brian Pillman-inspired worked shoot odyssey. MJF is cheered at Punk’s expense. At the post-PPV press conference, Punk asks reporter Nick Hausman if he’s still friends with ‘Scott Colton’.
(The very mention of Colton’s name is heart-stopping. You thought he’d never, ever say it. It’s like the scene in the movie a second before the body is thrown from the roof of the building).
Punk appears to be teeing up a premeditated rant, expecting Hausman to say yes, so that he can call his journalistic integrity into question. This is conjecture. It’s all endless conjecture from this point on. Punk is temporarily thrown, but gets back on track. In an unforgettable, landscape-altering rant - which is also one of the best promos ever - Punk buries everybody.
He says Scott Colton did not want to see him at the top before disclosing why he countersued him, citing the aforementioned email. He calls Hangman Page an “empty-headed f*cking dumb f*ck” who went out on national television and went into business for himself. He accuses the “EVPs”, “who couldn’t f*cking manage a Target” - the Young Bucks - of “spreading lies and bullsh*t”. Here, Punk outright says that Bucks “put into the media” that Punk got Cabana fired when, Punk claims, “I have f*ck all to do with him”. It’s unclear whether Punk is also referring to Omega; he never mentions the “EVPs” by name, only that they step on their d*cks so often that “these stupid guys think they’re in Reseda”. (Reseda is home to Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, the irreverent indie in which the Bucks broke through).
“I’m hurt, I’m old and I’m f*cking tired, and I work with f*cking children,” Punk says. The soundbites are incredible.
It’s Montreal for the 21st century; the most shocking wrestling news story of the era that does not involve a crime. Tony Khan just sits there, for some reason. He even nods along at times. This is the precise moment the "feeling" is lost, and his public no longer trusts him.
The story becomes one of faction warfare overnight. It’s not just Hangman Page with whom Punk is feuding; he isn’t actually present when Brawl Out ignites. Each version of the story differs wildly to the other.
From “Punk’s camp”, the Elite angrily enter Punk’s private dressing room door (without bursting through or breaking it), injuring his dog Larry in the process; a threatened Punk enters self-defence mode and punches Matt Jackson out.
In the other story, the Bucks and Omega take AEW’s Chief Legal Officer Megha Parekh with them to Punk’s locker room, presumably to convey that they have no interest in getting physical; she is the last person in the entire company you would want to initiate a fight in front of. Physicality breaks out nonetheless; Nick Jackson is struck hard in the eye with a steel chair; Matt is punched; Omega is bitten in the arm by Ace Steel, whose injured wife, it should be noted, is present at the scene.
Ultimately, it’s 2-1 in Punk's favour in the battle of transgressions. This suggests a narrow win. It isn’t. This is one of the most astonishing displays of unprofessional behaviour in the history of wrestling, and think of the ground that covers.
Some great wrestling happens at All Out. It doesn’t matter. The Acclaimed Vs. Swerve In Our Glory is the only match that is vaguely discussed in the days and weeks that follow. Every bump was for nothing.
AEW isn’t finished. The roster is great, the PPVs are exhilarating, a rights deal securing the long-term future is very probable.
So why does it feel like it?