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Fallout from CM Punk-Elite melee threatens to bring down AEW from within

Chris Graham
cm punk aew
CM Punk addresses fans at the United Center in Chicago on his return to pro wrestling. Photo courtesy All Elite Wrestling.

It’s looking more and more like AEW, on the heels of maybe its best pay-per-view event ever, with more momentum than it has had in its three-year history, is sadly about to self-destruct.

The latest reporting on the backstage melee involving CM Punk, Ace Steel, The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega that took place after Punk called out the Bucks, Omega and fellow Elite member “Hangman” Adam Page in a media scrum following Sunday’s “All Out” pay-per-view has some AEW talents thinking that Punk could be on his way out from the company.

It’s still not clear exactly what transpired during the melee, with reports indicating that there were punches thrown, though who threw the first is at question, and which side was the aggressor in the incident is also at question.

It’s also being reported that Steel, a backstage producer for AEW, and Punk’s best friend, either hit or threw a chair at Nick Jackson, and allegedly bit Omega and pulled a chunk of his air.

All of this took place after Punk, who had just won the world title from Jon Moxley in the main event at “All Out” on Sunday, addressed the media after the event, and brought up the source of backstage tensions that had led to an all-hands talent meeting before the live “Dynamite” two weeks ago to clear the air.

Punk called out, not by name, the “EVPs” – referring to Nick and Matt Jackson, and Omega – who he said had been using their friends in the wrestling media to spread rumors that Punk had nudged AEW head guy Tony Khan to downgrade the status of his former friend, now bitter personal rival Colt Cobana.

“The fact that I have to sit up here, because we have irresponsible people who call themselves EVPs, and couldn’t f***ing manage a Target, and they spread lies and bulls*** and put into a media that I got somebody fired when I have f*** all to do with him, want nothing to do with him, do not care where he works, where he doesn’t work, where he eats, where he sleeps, the fact that I have to get up here and do this in 2022 is f***ing embarrassing,” Punk said, among many other things.

To say that the situation between the company’s biggest stars is unsettling for AEW’s future would be understating things significantly.

Punk is now a two-time AEW world champion and by far the company’s biggest draw. The Jacksons and Omega, for their part, were foundation pieces for Khan when he launched the company in 2019, when he named the three executive vice presidents, with the Jacksons given oversight of the company’s tag team division, and Omega given responsibility for the women’s division and the development of a new AEW video game, “Fight Forever.”

It must be said that the work of the EVPs behind the scenes has had mixed results, at best. The Jacksons have come under criticism for appearing to hold back rivals Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler, FTR, who have been left out of the AEW tag title picture despite being regarded as the best tag team in the industry.

The women’s division has also largely fizzled, and “Fight Forever,” originally slated for release this month, has a new launch date of February 2023 – after more than two years of work, and reports that the project is “way over” the original $10 million budget.

Khan has stayed mum on the backstage drama since Sunday night, likely because he is hopeful to find a way forward to get everybody to remain on the same team, after a summer of having to work around injuries to Punk, another top-shelf star, Bryan Danielson, and a host of others that made things tough from a booking perspective.

Khan had told Wrestling Observer editor Dave Meltzer on a podcast previewing “All Out” this past weekend that he was looking forward to having the whole roster back for the fall to be able to build toward the big New York City supershow later this month and the November “Full Gear” pay-per-view.

If it ends up that either Punk or the members of The Elite end up leaving the company as a result of this ongoing controversy, that could spell doom for AEW, which is at a make-or-break time in its young life,  on the verge of negotiating its next TV deal next year.

You want to hope that calmer, and smarter, heads will prevail, but that doesn’t appear to be in the offing in the here and now.

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019, and Team of Destiny: Inside Virginia Basketball’s Run to the 2019 National Championship, and The Worst Wrestling Pay-Per-View Ever, published in 2018. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].