Samoa Joe has spoken out about CM Punk’s departure from All Elite Wrestling, which AEW President Tony Khan decided upon following Punk’s physical altercation with Jack Perry at All In 2023.
Joe was the last person to wrestle Punk in AEW, as they worked the opening match of All In 2023. The incident almost caused the show to be reshuffled, but Joe was able to calm the situation down, and the match went ahead as planned.
When asked about the incident by the New York Post’s Joseph Staszewski, Joe shared his thoughts. He said,
“For the most part, I haven’t read what’s been portrayed. There’s been so much said. I’m not the one to go out there and try to debunk everything. I know we had the initial incident. Everybody rallied. Everybody got together. Got their heads together and lined up and got ready to do the show and we went out there and we did the show. That really was the focus at that point in time. We got a massive show to do and we got fans out there rabid to see that happen. So it’s important that we step up and do it and it’s important that we did and I was proud to be a part of that.”
Regarding the seriousness of the situation, Joe stated,
“That’s up to whoever perceived it. I’m used to that environment. Those things don’t seem very intense to me, but it could be something crazy intense to someone else. I wasn’t really affected by the moment. I was more focused on getting the show back on track and getting us going because it was bell time”
Finally, Joe was asked to comment on his relationship with Punk. He said,
“I’d imagine there are tons of things that are misunderstood or portrayed about him. Now, what those things are it’s who’s representing in what way. I can’t really give you a blanket statement as far as what those things are. For the most part, our relationship has been very, especially for these years, has been very non-wrestling related. It’s just been extraneous stuff outside of the world of wrestling and talking about life stuff.”
