The Self-Destruction Of CM Punk In AEW | Wrestling Timelines
October 7, 2021 - Cowboy Sh*t
On October 7, 2021, Hangman Adam Page returns from paternity leave and wins the main event of Dynamite: a Casino Ladder match held to determine the #1 contender to Kenny Omega’s AEW World title.
CM Punk loves it. He tweets, simply, “Cowboy sh*t”. He publicly displays his endorsement of Hangman Page.
October 27, 2021 - Punk Doesn’t Care
In the infamous ‘Brawl Out’ press conference, CM Punk said that he has “f*ck all to do with” Scott ‘Colt Cabana’ Colton.
“[I] want nothing to do with him. Do not care where he works, where he doesn’t work, where he eats, where he sleeps”.
The veracity of this statement will never be fully determined - but, as of October 27, 2021, it was demonstrably true. On that night’s AEW Dynamite, emanating from Agganis Arena in Boston, Massachusetts, CM Punk wrestles in the opener, where Cabana works the main event alongside his Dark Order stablemates.
CM Punk and Colt Cabana perform on the same show, in the same building.
While there’s zero chance of them working together, or reconciling, they can at least work alongside one another. CM Punk does not use his significant sway to prevent this from happening. One of two things is true here: Punk is either true to his word, and his side of the story is accurate, or he waits to make his move. One option is correct. The other is conspiratorial - but evidence will later mount.
Punk has a problem with one wrestler on the show - and it isn’t Cabana. Punk’s opponent, Bobby Fish, pulls off a particularly irksome transgression amongst the pro wrestling brotherhood. Fish kicks out of Punk’s Go To Sleep finisher at the count of three. The match is ruined; Punk is seething. It doesn’t look like a botch, but Fish reckons Punk squeezed his wrist, which he interprets as an instruction to kick out. Fish also calls Punk a “c*nt” who isn’t a real martial artist.
Fish isn’t punishment-booked or removed from TV, and is even booked for a World Tag Team title shot a few months later. If there’s any heat on him, you’d never know it from watching the product. Punk is old school. Might he have expected some form of action to have been taken?
Is this the first time that Punk suspects that AEW isn’t made up of serious people? And that Tony Khan isn’t a boss, as he’ll later tell Ariel Helwani?