In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, former AEW EVP Cody Rhodes had the following to say about the infamous ‘brawl out’ incident at AEW All Out 2022.
“I’m not putting any blame on anybody, but I just hated seeing that. Because, as the company grows, and I hope it continues to grow, I hope people remember the mission in the first place. Why we were there. And if you bring in people that don’t know the mission, things like that can happen. And I’m not saying he [Punk] didn’t know the mission or anything of that nature, but I was just bummed out.”
“No heat on Punk, no heat on Matt, Nick, Kenny or Tony. I was just bummed out when I saw it. That’s not how we envisioned it. If you were at ALL IN… the spirit of ALL IN. If you ever lose the spirit, you’re lost. And I think the spirit was gone in that moment. Doesn’t mean you can’t get it back, but it was just a bummer.”
In case you have been living under a rock, the post show press scrum featured CM Punk make scathing remarks and accusations about Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and ‘Hangman’ Adam Page in a scathing rant, and what followed was a backstage brawl between CM Punk, Ace Steel, Omega, and Nick & Matt.
Wrestling legend Jim Cornette has now responded to the comments made by Cody. Speaking on a recent episode of the Drive-Thru, he said,
“What else can he say? He can break any NDAs as you mentioned and he can p*ss off a bunch of people that are going to be texting him and whining about it and everything, or he can just be diplomatic and move on with his day. And I think that’s what he is doing there. He doesn’t have to worry about it anymore and he’s probably disappointed to see it from his old cohorts, but that probably also reinforces in his mind that he made the right decision.”
To put his comments into context, Jim Cornette has been a huge supporter and admirer of CM Punk in general and in the aftermath of the infamous incident, whereas his perception of The Elite is entirely different. However, he is also known to be a fan of Cody Rhodes’ wrestling and business acumen.