The Self-Destruction Of CM Punk In AEW | Wrestling Timelines
August 14, 2022 - Building Bans
The reports of CM Punk’s conduct are wild. Documented by various members of the media, they paint a picture of the man at his most egomaniacal.
Wade Keller publishes an article for PW Torch entitled ‘EXCLUSIVE: Punk staking out his territory in Collision, details on intense confrontation with one wrestler over critical tweet’.
In it, Keller reveals what sources have told him. Punk, who is “creating a bunker of sorts”, confronted Nick Nemeth backstage at the June 21 Dynamite, on which he made an unscheduled appearance. In what is described as an “awkward and weird” scene, Punk chewed Nemeth and “got inches from his face, and angrily and aggressively asked if they had a problem”. Punk, who asked if they needed to take it outside, was offended at a tweet posted from Nemeth’s since-deleted Twitter account. Nemeth had tweeted “literally the softest man alive” in reference to Punk’s televised dig at his friends the Young Bucks. Nemeth tries to point out that Punk fired the first shot; Punk, if the report is accurate, is hypocritical in his response. He says that nobody should be “inflaming prior issues”.
Stars have rarely had to abide by the rules in pro wrestling.
Nemeth is subsequently turned away from a Collision taping on August 12. Once this is leaked, it emerges that this is no isolated incident. This follows stories from Dave Meltzer and Sean Ross Sapp, in which it is reported that other friends of the Bucks, namely Matt Hardy and Christopher Daniels, were also told not to enter the building after being provisionally booked for certain episodes of Collision.
Haus of Wrestling suggests that, with Daniels, Punk believed he was acting on his principles; if Steel wasn’t allowed to be physically present on Saturdays, neither should Daniels (who witnessed but was not reported to have played a role in the Brawl Out scrap). Daniels is the Head of Talent Relations. In what world is the Head of Talent Relations not at TV?!
Voices of Wrestling report that a source was told by Punk directly that “I am 100%” the reason Hardy and Daniels were turned away. VOW has heard that Daniels - alongside Hardy, Jack Perry, Britt Baker and the Bucks - “made a point” of ignoring Punk at the joint Forbidden Door event on June 25.
The “sheets” can’t arrive at a single narrative, but the gist is apparent - and damning.
The idea that Punk doesn’t care about where Colt Cabana worked is almost annihilated during this period. Again: nobody knows who said or did not say what to whom in 2022. In 2023, however, Punk does seem to care where people work. This is not good for his “alibi”.
As much as Punk is impossible to defend here, he’s very much right about one thing: this situation is an untenable farce, he knows it, and he seems to be acting out of pure exasperation. It’s a joke to him - he’s not wrong - and he’s treating the situation like a joke. Khan had the most difficult decision to make in 2022. He didn’t make it, but could only delay it.
This can only end one way. The question is “when” - and the answer is “on the worst night imaginable”.