This past Sunday night, All Elite Wrestling hosted its most attended and highest-grossing event to date, AEW: All In London. In front of more than 80,000 fans, the AEW roster delivered an over-the-top show that featured several title changes, a musical performance from Chris Jericho, and a memorable main event for the AEW World Championship between MJF and Adam Cole. Unfortunately, a backstage altercation between CM Punk and Jack Perry overshadowed some of the positivity around the historic show.
Just before the pay-per-view went live on the air, the two men engaged in what started as a harsh verbal exchange and escalated to a physical confrontation. AEW President Tony Khan was present for the encounter and said in his public address that he feared for his life at one point. Following an internal investigation and consultation with his lawyers and AEW Discipline Committee, Khan decided to drop the hammer and terminate all AEW contracts with Punk, real name Phillip Jack Brooks.
On today’s episode of Talk Is Jericho, the former AEW World Champion broke his silence on Punk’s termination from AEW.
“I don’t want to dwell on this or talk about it, but I should address it,” he said. “Of course, CM Punk is no longer with AEW, and Wembley was his last match. Which, what a way to go out, if you’re gonna go out. I did speak to him briefly. I was gonna do a Frankensteiner off the top, and I know that he does that sometimes. So, I was just curious if he was doing it. So, I went and talked to him for a bit; I asked him if he was doing it, he wasn’t.
“Then I told him I was gonna do the GTS and with a straight face, and I think for a second he thought that I was going to, and I was joking, of course. So yeah, I did see him that day, and once again, it’s a regretful moment what happened, but Tony Khan made his decision, and, like I said, CM Punk was a big part of AEW for the time he was here, and if you’re going to go out, he went out on top, for sure, by having this good match with Samoa Joe. And a sold-out stadium, not sold out, but the highest-selling ticket seller of all time. So, that’s my thoughts on that.”
Earlier this year, prior to Punk’s return to the AEW fold, Jericho was involved in a sit-down meeting with Punk to try and smoothly set the stage for his return. At the time, there were rumors that Jericho and Punk would be working a program together, but we were told there were never any plans for that. From what we gather, Jericho was attempting to work as a mediator between Punk and The Elite’s camp and was proposing and hearing out ideas regarding how things could operate going forward without issue. Obviously, things did not play out as hoped.
If you use any quotes from this article, please give a h/t Haus of Wrestling and credit Talk Is Jericho