What is going on backstage at AEW between CM Punk, The Elite?

CM Punk won the AEW world title in the main event, MJF returned as his first challenger after a three-month hiatus, and those items are nowhere near the top news to come out of Sunday’s “All Out.”

Punk, in the post-event media scrum, used a question from a reporter about Colt Cobana to tear into his former best friend and his defenders in the locker room, focusing on the titular AEW executive vice presidents Kenny Omega and Matt and Nick Jackson, The Young Bucks, and former world champ “Hangman” Adam Page.

It’s a fair bet to wonder if the jaw-dropping rant is a work to set up some business between Punk and the EVPs down the line, but if it is a work, damn, this one was a potato.

“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.

There have been rumors about backstage tensions that came to a head last month when Punk shot at Page over a promo from the former champ in the walk-up to their title match at “Double or Nothing” in May in which Page said he had to “save AEW” from Punk.

That was the first hint at heat, real or contrived, between Punk and the group that we know as The Elite, who AEW head guy Tony Khan gave the EVP titles to when he launched the company in 2019.

The tensions boiled over to the point that Khan called an all-hands meeting before a “Dynamite” show two weeks ago to try to clear the air for everybody.

If we’re to believe the post-“All Out” reporting on the response to Punk’s comments, you’d need a Geiger counter to check the environment backstage.

One report had Omega and the Jacksons threatening to walk out on AEW in the aftermath of Punk’s media scrum, basically making the situation into an EVPs vs. the world champ and biggest money draw thing.

Khan, at this writing, hasn’t addressed whatever is really going on here, either because he’s trying to figure a way to mend the fences, if this is on the up and up, or because, if it’s a work, he’s letting it work.

The one thing that would make you think this isn’t a work is that it all overshadows the return of MJF, who had been off TV since his June 1 appearance on “Dynamite” in which he went on an extended rant aimed at Khan.

His return, punctuated by a video featuring a voicemail from Khan that made it seem like the company was giving in to MJF’s demands for a world title shot and a pay raise, was confirmation that the story of the summer was a work all along, but hey, that’s just good wrestling booking.

It would seem counterproductive to take the steam out of the beginning of the payoff from a storyline in which the seeds were planted six months ago by planting the seeds to another long-term angle literally minutes after the conclusion to one of the better pay-per-view events the company has ever put on.

But then, we’re definitely tuning in on Wednesday, right?