At All In 2023, CM Punk and Jack Perry had a backstage confrontation, which would ultimately result in Perry being suspended and Punk fired. Much has changed since then, including CM Punk’s triumphant return to WWE, and Tony Khan has weighed in on the damning footage in question.
In April 2024, after Punk spoke criticially of AEW and Khan, the footage was aired on AEW Dynamite. Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Khan shared that he decided to air the footage as he didn’t agree with how Punk had described what had happened. Punk had claimed that he’d choked Perry “a little” then yelled at Khan that he quit.
Khan highlighted how the decision to air the footage got a lot of attention for Dynamite, adding that “It’s a TV show and it did a very strong number.” While Khan said that “I think it made sense” to air the footage, he seemingly admitted that not everyone feels the same way, adding “It’s in the eye of the beholder.”
On AEW TV, the decision to air the footage was explained away as The Young Bucks sharing why they lost at All In. Their reasoning was that they had been distracted by the backstage incident. The fight was Punk’s second backstage altercation in under a year and succeeded ‘Brawl Out’ from September 2022.
Addressing the situation with Punk, Khan said that the fight with Perry was “a major part of why I think he was no longer able to continue with us.” Khan shared that he would have liked for Punk to have continued with AEW and “it’s clear that I wanted to reconcile.”
Khan may have hoped to work with Punk, but the Chicago-Made star returned to WWE in November 2023 and is the reigning World Heavyweight Champion. Today, Punk’s AEW tenure is firmly in the past, with no sign that he’ll ever step foot in an ‘All-Elite’ ring again.