New jibes against a prominent AEW colleague have caused a lot of anger to boil up around top star CM Punk. However, he now seems to be trying to de-escalate.
Just before the biggest show in his league’s history, a lot of pent-up anger has boiled up around wrestling top star CM Punk. Now it is apparently seeking damage control.
According to coinciding US media reports, Punk has apologised to former World Champion Hangman Page for his public jibes, sending Page a regretful text message, both parties confirmed.
Punk reportedly portrayed his post-show Collision statements to the crowd in the arena on Saturday that Page was a “shoplifter” as a failed joke that he had spontaneously gotten carried away with and quickly regretted, wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer reports on Wrestling Observer Radio.
Ongoing confusion, meanwhile, surrounds the fact that Page was supposed to be on-site at the Collision show in his native North Carolina, but was told that the scheduled taping of an interview segment had been moved to another location.
CM Punk and Hangman Page: Confusion continues
Because it also came out in parallel that the show tailored to Punk had some sort of blacklist of AEW wrestlers who were said to be unwanted there, the impression arose – even within AEW – that Punk had arranged for Page to be sent away.
Pro Wrestling Insider reports that AEW officials deny this: Page had not been sent out of the arena, the rescheduling had taken place in advance and had “nothing” to do with Punk. The Observer also reports that there are differing interpretations of what happened – while Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp notes that Punk seems “honestly confused” about the matter.
It is possible, then, that this was simply a coincidence that, in the context of events, presented an unflattering picture: In addition to Punk’s jibes at Page, the fact that Ryan Nemeth, who, like Page, is close to the league’s vice-chairmen The Young Bucks, was booked and flown in for Collision, only to be sent away again, also caused a stir.
“Blacklist” at Collision?
The younger brother of WWE star Dolph Ziggler was at odds with Punk after his comeback. In his case, Fightful reported that Punk’s camp had confirmed that he was not wanted at Collision, and that Nemeth should not even be seen there “in catering”. Similar incidents are said to have occurred in recent weeks around Matt Hardy and Christopher Daniels, who are also friends with the Bucks.
The confrontation with Punk happened at Punk’s one-off guest appearance at Dynamite in his native Chicago – the show after which an anonymous “top star” of the league caused a stir by conveying the assessment that AEW was sitting on a “ticking time bomb”.
Fightful now also reports that there had also been a disagreement between Punk and young Jack Perry recently – but it was probably more contained.
Punk vs. The Elite: Frustration over ongoing drama
A simmering dispute between Punk and Page and the Bucks over the past year escalated into a momentous backstage brawl between Punk and the Bucks and Kenny Omega last September. At that time, too, a public attack by Punk on Page had made a conflict that had previously been smouldering internally public.
After an interim suspension of all those involved in the brawl, boss Tony Khan brought both The Elite and Punk back, they have since been separated in time and space, there are also supposed to be confidentiality agreements and a lawyer-supervised ban on contact – which does not affect Page, who was not involved in the brawl. He has remained silent on the issue for many months.
The Elite now continue to star in the Wednesday show Dynamite, Punk – after various other turbulences – became the focus of the new show Collision. It also seems to be his territory behind the scenes, from which he wants to keep internal opponents out. According to the Pro Wrestling Torch, this territorial behaviour is not only interpreted negatively for Punk: He is valued in “his” territory as a leader who forms a sworn community. From Punk’s perspective, it is about not allowing any “drama” or seeds for conflict in the collision booth.
According to the Observer, however, even many stars who were uninvolved in the conflict are now severely frustrated that the drama surrounding Punk and his adversaries will not end – and has now been brought into public focus once again just before the mega-show All In at London’s Wembley Stadium at the end of August of all times.
