Will Ospreay revealed that he was backstage when the infamous CM Punk-Jack Perry brawl broke out at AEW All In in 2023 — but at first, he had no idea he was watching a real fight.
During an interview with Ariel Helwani on August 25, Ospreay explained that he was backstage at Wembley Stadium mentally preparing for his own match when he heard a commotion nearby and initially assumed it was just wrestlers cutting a promo — until he saw Punk walk past him and realized something had actually gone wrong.
I was there at the Punk and Jack Perry thing. I was going over the match in my head, and I was there thinking to myself, ‘I need to get this right,’ making sure everything was going on in my head. I then heard a commotion, and I thought they were cutting a promo! Then I saw Punk move past me, and I was like, ‘Oh no.’ I know exactly what happened.
At the time, Ospreay wasn’t yet an AEW regular; he was still primarily a New Japan Pro Wrestling talent who’d come in to face Chris Jericho, so he wasn’t plugged into the tension building backstage between Punk and Perry.
He noted how strange it was to go from reading about wrestling controversy online to suddenly witnessing it in person, contrasting it with his own consistently positive experiences at AEW events like Forbidden Door.
So it’s funny because you read s*** all the time on the internet, and just to see it in front of you, it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s lame,’ because every time I’ve been there, it’s been super enjoyable.
Looking back more than two years later, Ospreay believes the backstage atmosphere has calmed considerably since that period, though he was careful to note he can’t speak to what caused the tension in the first place since he wasn’t part of it.
Like, I loved coming to AEW every time I did a Forbidden Door or did a random spot match like the trios. The environment was great, and it doesn’t feel like it’s changed since I came back.”
“There’s less of an animosity toward one another, but I can’t comment on it because I wasn’t there.
The Punk-Perry incident remains one of the most talked-about backstage stories in AEW history, having led to Punk’s firing and Perry’s suspension at the time.
