Duration: 53:27

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Transcript of some parts of the interview:

All In and Real Glass
Jovially, Punk talks about the events that led to his AEW exit. There was no one to pick Punk from the airport so he went on an “adventure” on the London Underground. While he joked it was fun, in the same breath Punk says it’s “irresponsible to leave someone stranded at the airport”.

When Jack Perry in the pre-show commented “Real glass”, Punk was watching. Preceding this, Punk says on the second Collison episode, Tony Schiavone came to Punk because Jack Perry was “cussing out” multiple staff, including a doctor.

Punk says he did not want to be involved. “Dude isn’t supposed to be here.” Punk’s approach was you need to handle it, or I will. Punk was asked to handle it.

Perry wanted to smash the window of a rental car with a pipe for an angle. Punk said that everyone had told Jack no. Punk told Perry no also and explained the logic that if Perry destroyed a rental car, then the rental company might decide to not rent it again to pro wrestlers. Plus, the safety aspect that comes with working with real glass. Punk stated he spoke calmly, saying if you want to do this, do it Wednesday.

Punk acknowledged as a younger kid he had taken this kind of stuff personally and might have gotten fired up about someone telling him what to do.

Back to All In, Punk says he told Tony Khan to handle it. Punk claims Tony said: “What do you want me to do?”

Nothing happened and Punk in his words, which he repeated several times in this section, was going to do something AEW would not like.

Punk Did Something
Punk’s side of things is, that when Jack came back through the curtain, Punk said he questioned Jack:

“Why do you have to do this dumb internet sh#t?”.

Jack said to do something about it. Punk’s response:

“I thought I was doing the responsible thing… I just choked someone a little bit.”

Things were then broken up.

Punk said he competed in the opening match of All In due to his respect for Samoa Joe, Jerry Lynn as the road agent, Paul Turner the referee, and the fans. Afterward, in his locker room, Punk said he asked if he could watch the rest of the card before security came to see him. Punk says he left without a fuss and got Nando’s for “the boys”.

Tony Khan and Business
Punk says that he told Tony Khan, after releasing Jack Perry from a bit of choking,

“You’re a clown, I quit.” CM Punk, The MMA Hour.

This was the last time he spoke to Tony Khan. Punk says he did not feel he did anything to make Tony fear for his life. Punk believes there is a concerted enough to slander and ruin his character. At its core, this for Punk is where issues came in. Punk said that he felt some were trying to dim their top star out of jealousy and only hurting the company in the process.

When asked about Tony Khan, Punk’s truth is “he’s not a boss, but a nice guy” and this is a detriment, in his head, to AEW’s business.


The Hangman “Worker’s Right” Comment
Punk stated he is more offended by insider terms of wrestling being thrown around than swearing. So, when “Hangman” Adam Page commented on protecting AEW from Punk, the issue came in that what Page said was not agreed with Punk in advance.

Punk stated that Hangman went “off-script”. Page did not say any of the things they discussed backstage. In the moment, Punk could hardly hear Page. Punk’s view is Hangman wasted TV time and money by slandering him.

Punk says he asked professionally why this happened and Punk claims Page said he believed Punk had one of his friends fired. With a lawyer, Punk went to Tony Khan and felt this was a profession. Respect for Punk is the default. Punk, hinting at The Elite, suggests they based their opinion on his based on what one person said.

“Everything went off the rails from there.”
CM Punk, The MMA Hour

“Just Let Me Go”, but His Return
At this point during his AEW run, Punk said “yeah” when Helwani asked if he would have been happy to be let go.

It was not what AEW was sold to him as. For six months, Punk said that no one talked to him. Punk paid for his surgeries and only had contact with AEW’s Dr Sampson.

“It’s not the way you facilitate things.” CM Punk, The MMA Hour.

From the start, Punk said that he felt The Elite never wanted him in AEW due to interactions and the way things were handled.

Money on the Table
Throughout, Punk’s booker mindset is revisited. When discussing throughout history previous backstage fights that then led to big feuds that made money, as well as in other sports like the NHL, he hinted that the end of Brawl Out was not capitalized on.

#cmpunk #arielhelwani #TheMMAHour #wwe #AEW