While we are three years removed from the end of CM Punk in AEW, more news continues to trickle out from his turbulent time in the company.
While the majority people know that AEW Collision on Saturday Night’s was partly created for CM Punk due to his backstage issues with the majority of the roster, it seems he had more pulling power than people expected once Collision debuted in June of 2023.
According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer, after the first fight backstage at AEW, there was an investigation by outside lawyers and a committee that was put together by Bryan Danielson. Both sides of that suggested for AEW to let Punk go. This is more interesting because it’s known that Punk and Danielson are friends. But that did not end up happening until after the fight at All In back in 2023.
“There were a lot of issues involving Cabana but I never heard of anyone wanting him out until the first fight. He was given his own show and except for PPVs, anyone he didn’t want at this shows, even the head of talent relations, were not allowed on his show.  He was the biggest star in the company and because of that they bent over backwards to accommodate him.”
Punk spent two years in AEW after debuting in August of 2021. It was Punk’s return to pro wrestling after leaving WWE at the beginning of 2014.
Punk in his AEW tenure won the AEW World Championship twice. While there was a lot to enjoy in the ring, many of his outside the ring stories became what defined his run in AEW. That included Punk’s backstage fight at All Out in 2022 with The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega as well has his backstage fight with Jack Perry a year later.
Since rejoining WWE in November of 2023, there have been no word of any issues with talent backstage. Reports have been that Punk has been a fantastic presence backstage and has even worked in the Performance Center with NXT and developmental talent. Punk has a marquee match coming up in one week as he defends his WWE Undisputed Championship against Cody Rhodes at Summerslam.
