Punk Scrum Thread III: Let's Make This Productive

[rajaah]

With Punk's rumored "exposive response" likely imminent over the next day or two, we need a thread to discuss this man's continuing hilarious misadventures. If nothing else, to keep all of that from poisoning other threads.

For this one, I INSIST that people keep infighting out of the equation. If you disagree with someone else, try letting it go instead of going around in circles. There's no place for personal potshots being traded back and forth here. Not over THIS guy. He isn't worth it. Most importantly, let's be forward-thinking with the discussion rather than retreading the same Zapruder-level dissections of what happened in 2022.

And if we can keep derails about food or whatever to a minimum that would be nice too. This thread doesn't need to reach some high artificial page count or be padded; it just needs to be a place to put discussion and responses to further Punk developments, i.e. the "explosive response", any further rants, potential lawsuits, and the (seemingly very unlikely) possibility that he goes somewhere else.

In short, let's try not to rehash or retread things that have already been discussed extensively, no potshots, no circular disagreements, minimal derails. Maybe this makes for a "less fun" thread, but it would at least be a lot more readable. Thank you in advance.

[rajaah]

Jericho speaks:

In the latest episode of Talk is Jericho (via Fightful), Chris Jericho commented on CM Punk’s firing from AEW and revealed he actually spoke to Punk at AEW All In. That was the same show where Punk had a physical altercation with Jack Perry, which led to his termination a week later.

Jericho said: “I don’t want to dwell on this or talk about, but I should address it. CM Punk, no longer with AEW, Wembley was his last match, which what a way to go out if you’re going to go out. I did speak to him, briefly, I was going to do a frankensteiner off the top, and I know that he does that sometimes, so I was curious if he was going to do it. I went and talked to him for a bit, asked if he was going to do it, he wasn’t. I told him I was going to do the GTS, with a straight face, and I think for a second he thought that I was going to. I was joking, of course. I did see him that day. It’s a regretful moment, what happened, but Tony Khan made his decision. CM Punk was a big part of AEW from the time he was here and if you’re going to go out, he went out on top by having this big match with Samoa Joe in a sold out stadium. That’s my thoughts on that.“


And Booker T:

On the latest episode of the Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T talked about CM Punk being released by AEW following his All In physical altercation with Jack Perry, Tony Khan making the decision, addressing the live crowd at Collision and more. You can check out some highlights below:

On Tony Khan not waiting to fire CM Punk after All Out: “I must give Tony a lot of credit. He didn’t have to go out in front of that Chicago fanbase and take that punishment and abuse, but he went out there and did it. At the end of the day, he got his point across and turned those fans a little bit as far as letting those fans know, ‘Hey, I did this for you. This is something that we created, we created together with you guys.’ And those Chicago fans, I must say they were a big part of it. Even before CM Punk came on board, I think Chicago was a major player as far as AEW goes. So I give Tony Khan a whole lot of credit… I mean, Tony Khan did the right thing, getting ahead of the item, not waiting after the pay-per-view. You know, CM Punk doesn’t show up, fans really would have gone crazy. Getting in front of it and going out there and just being a man. You know, I knew speaking in front of that crowd being booed had to be difficult. It took him about six minutes to get it all out, but I think it was necessary for Tony Khan to do.”

On whether AEW made the right call to fire Punk: “Just think about this for a second. We know Tony Khan and his love for the independent scene and those independent wrestlers. He grew up on it. I don’t doubt that if Tony Khan could have kept CM Punk, he would have kept him. He didn’t give CM Punk all the chances, bringing him back and paying him all this money, for no reason. I mean, I don’t think so. So, I think Tony Khan did not do what he wanted to do, but what he had to do for the sake of that company. I’m not there. I don’t know the inner workings of AEW, but I know Tony Khan from the outside looking in; he went all out for CM Punk to the point where he gave him his show. That was a Punk show. So, I don’t think Tony Khan wanted to do it. I think it was something that he had to do.”

On CM Punk’s issues with other wrestlers: “I tell my students this, and it’s true 100%. Can’t make it in the locker room, you have no chance of making it in the ring. That’s just the way it is. That’s pretty much in all sports across the board. Can’t make it to the locker room, you’re going to have a problem with the boys sooner or later. Because the boys pretty much run the locker room, whether you believe it or not. The boss was never in our locker room, policing the locker room. Never, not once. It was always the boys, you know… But wrestler’s court is something in this business. It’s needed.”

On Tony Khan fearing for his life: “He’s a different cat. I don’t see Tony Khan being the kid in the class wanting to fight somebody every day. I can’t see Tony Khan being the kid where somebody comes up to him and says, ‘I’ll be waiting on you after school.’ And Tony Khan says, ‘All right, I’ll be there.’ I think he would diplomatically want to talk out of that situation, or call his dad and say, ‘Dad, can you send us security?’ But I don’t see Tony Khan being very aggressive at all. Now, did he fear for his life? I don’t know.”

[Mayonnaise]

No. If necessary one will be opened but no more.