This past September at AEW All Out, CM Punk participated in a post-show media scrum that sent shockwaves around the pro wrestling world. Yes, he tried to pick a verbal fight with me personally and, no, it didn’t go his way but that didn’t stop him from airing his grievances about others. Notably, Punk took aim at former friend Scott Colton, aka Colt Cabana, as well as the company’s Executive Vice Presidents, The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega.
With Punk’s return to AEW seemingly on the horizon, it appears that Punk and The Elite have yet to make contact to bury the hatchet. On Thursday’s Haus of Wrestling episode, available on Premier Streaming Network and all podcast platforms, Josh Shernoff recalled his first-hand experience being around Punk just hours before the scrum ordeal, and subsequent backstage altercation.
“I will tell you, I was backstage at All Out,” he said. “I had been hanging out in the hallway outside Punk’s dressing room, that’s pretty much where I had been hanging out all night.”
“I saw him and he was talking to some of the younger talents, just hanging out there. I don’t know if he was maybe talking about their matches, or, whatever it was, but it was good. Everything, his demeanor was good.”
Intrigued to hear more about how Punk was behaving, with seemingly so much bubbling up inside of him, I asked Shernoff for more insight into what he saw backstage that day.
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t see him around Jericho, and I didn’t see him around The Bucks,” he described. “I mean, that’s not to say he wasn’t, it’s not to say they weren’t cordial or side-eyeing each other. I have no idea. I can just picture him talking to various talents over by the road cases. He was not held up in his locker room away from everybody. Anytime I had seen him there at shows in the past, I could see him by the curtain, watching matches, peaking through the curtains and stuff.
“To me, he always seemed very engaged, he never seemed removed. But, at the same time, that’s kind of how I saw everybody there. I never saw Jericho held up in his locker room. Jericho was always out there talking to people and interacting with people and watching stuff.”
It is somewhat interesting that Shernoff did not see Punk interacting with Jericho on the day of All Out. Following the backstage altercation, Jericho reportedly called Punk a cancer to his face in the locker room. As Punk plans to return to AEW, a meeting between him and Jericho is reportedly planned, perhaps in hopes of starting to make amends. Punk and Jericho squashing their beef could, if all goes well, possibly open the door to a meeting with Punk, The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega.
“You know what? I never really saw The Bucks and Kenny that much,” Shernoff said, describing The Elite’s backstage AEW presence. “Every once and awhile they would walk around, or, whatever. I think that night, also, MJF returned. So, I think there was, on the other side of the building, a lot of secrecy because I didn’t see MJF until after his return.
“At the same time, you have to remember the Bucks and Kenny are more involved with things. I wasn’t sitting in Gorilla so I have no idea. For all I know, they were in there sitting next to Tony Khan. All I know is the atmosphere was never this negative energy that you hear about.”
New Haus of Wrestling episodes debut Tuesday and Thursday at Noon EST on Premier Streaming Network. The audio is added to the Haus of Wrestling podcast feed at 1 pm EST.
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