UPDATE: As you all know by now, CM Punk and Jack Perry were involved in a physical confrontation at Sunday’s AEW All In 2023 pay-per-view event.
A new report from Fightful Select has shared further details of the backstage altercation between Punk and Perry at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Perry had informed some close friends beforehand that he was planning to make a remark during his FTW Title match against HOOK on the All In 2023 “Zero Hour” pre-show.
During the match, Perry took shots at Punk when he looked directly into the camera and said, “It’s real glass, cry me a river!” in reference to the story of him and Punk having a disagreement during a recent AEW Collision taping where Perry wanted to do a spot using real glass but Punk refused.
There was reportedly a lot of eye-rolling and “this again?” reactions to the backstage altercation.
While Punk’s side of the story has been very clear, there are details still coming in from the other side.
One source claimed with “100% certainty” that Perry didn’t land the first punch, saying, “Punk shoved him and put him in a choke.”
There are several stories depending on who you ask and they vary from Punk shoving, pie facing, or throwing a punch at Perry.
Another person claimed that Samoa Joe played peacemaker and kept other people out of the scuffle.
A lot of people noted that Punk asked Perry if they had a problem and Perry labeled the comment as his “receipt” for Punk taking the disagreement online regarding the Collision situation.
According to Punk’s camp, there wasn’t much communication between Punk and AEW President Tony Khan afterward.
Punk reportedly remarked to one of his close friends in the company that he “hates this place” in reference to the regular issues in AEW. Neither Punk nor Perry were at the All In 2023 afterparty, and they left the venue at different times.
Finally, it was added that the report of Punk and Perry’s suspensions from AEW is yet to be confirmed.
ORIGINAL: As you all know by now, CM Punk and Jack Perry were involved in a physical confrontation at Sunday’s AEW All In 2023 pay-per-view event.
According to a report from PW Torch, CM Punk was threatening to quit All Elite Wrestling in the “heat of the moment.” Punk was said to have been incredibly frustrated backstage after the incident and was fiercely defending himself.
Multiple sources say CM Punk has made it crystal clear that he wants a drama-free locker room environment, which is something he has largely achieved on AEW Collision due to the fact that there’s a lot of people he likes working on the brand. Of course, there have been a few exceptions. It’s become abundantly clear that Punk controls the Collision locker-room and is able to put restrictions on who is and isn’t allowed to be in it.
The report notes that several people on the AEW production team were notified at the last minute that they may have to change the match order of All In 2023 because of the incident. Of course, CM Punk and Samoa Joe kicked off the show and the incident came just minutes beforehand. There was brief concern that there’d have to be a delay in the start of the show as they scrambled to get the graphics ready for a different match. It was said that Punk was quickly able to regroup and the match went on as scheduled.
As far as the altercation itself is concerned, it is said that CM Punk was watching the Jack Perry vs. HOOK “Zero Hour” kickoff match on a monitor backstage. So clearly, he heard Perry’s comments about the limo windshield being “real glass.” Punk reportedly asked Perry if there was a problem when he came through the curtain. Perry told Punk that he started something online a few weeks ago and if he had a problem with what he said on camera, he should “do something about it.” This led to a shoving match between both men and an eventual choke by CM Punk. There are conflicting reports as to whether a punch was thrown.
The belief is that the online incident Perry was referring to has to do with Punk’s camp purposely leaking the glass incident story to make Perry look bad. As we previously reported here on eWn, the two men got into a verbal altercation after Punk told Perry that’s not something they do on the Collision brand and if he had a problem with it, he could go back and work Wednesdays. Sources from CM Punk’s side say he was simply providing “veteran wisdom” to steer him away from that type of violence.
Perry reportedly believes that the story being leaked was done by CM Punk and his camp to “show him up or embarrass him.” This is the reason why he used the “Zero Hour” pre-show to “fire back” with some unscripted and unapproved comments.
One veteran wrestler stated that AEW President Tony Khan has no control and has fostered an environment where younger wrestlers feel that they are free to “go into business for themselves.” Another veteran wrestler says Punk overreacted here and should have let it go.
At this point, most of the blame for this latest incident is being placed on Jack Perry, although there are others who feel otherwise because they’re close to CM Punk. But overall, it was said that Jack Perry knew exactly what he was going to get himself into with his unscripted comments.
As we previously reported here on eWn, many people in AEW are upset over the incident and believe everyone should have been talking about what they accomplished with All In 2023.
Finally, there is an internal investigation underway and both men are reportedly suspended from All Elite Wrestling for the time being. Most believe Perry will face more ramifications than Punk.
