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CM Punk knows what professional wrestling fans want to see, and he doesn’t think AEW President Tony Khan is delivering.

This past November, Punk made a stunning return to WWE at the conclusion of the sports-entertainment giant’s “Survivor Series: WarGames” event in Punk’s hometown of Chicago. His appearance was less than a year after an ugly departure from AEW, which came amid reports of multiple backstage altercations between Punk, several professional wrestlers, and Khan himself. Still, it came as a shock given he had previously parted ways with WWE under chaotic circumstances in 2013.

One backstage AEW incident that made headlines involved Punk and wrestler Jack Perry reportedly coming to blows backstage at the “All In” event at Wembley Stadium in London in August 2023. On The MMA Hour, Punk gave his account of confronting Perry about a proposed stunt on a show prior to the event, and he said the situation was handled poorly by Khan and company.

“I walked up to Jack, and he was sitting in a car,” Punk said. “What he wanted to do — this was a rental car — was smash the window of the rental car with a pipe, and I was just like, ‘It’s a rental car.’ I very politely — because I like Jack — I was just like, [several people told you no], and now I have to tell you no. And apparently, you’ve cussed them all out, so I’m telling you no. We don’t do that here. If you want to do this, you go to [AEW Dynamite on] Wednesday and do it. He had no problem. He said, ‘OK. I just thought it was a really cool idea.’ I said, ‘It might be, but this is a rental car.’ The boys ruin it for the boys. You’re going to smash the window of a rental car, and you’re going to return it with no f****** window, and now National, Budget, Hertz, whatever, is going to be like, ‘Don’t rent cars to pro wrestlers anymore.’ This is a thing that’s happened.”

“I get it, I used to be that kid that was young and I want to do this. But there’s a safe way to do it,” Punk continued. “I politely explained that to him. I didn’t raise my voice, I didn’t cuss at him. I very much just said, ‘We don’t do that here. This is [AEW Collision on] Saturday. It’s a different show. You want to do stuff like this, do it on Wednesday.’ That was it. I didn’t think there was going to be a problem. He obviously took something very business-minded very personally, and that’s fine, because I’ve done that before too. But it’s very much who he’s friends with, and s*** never got squashed, nobody’s in charge, and it turned into what it turned into.”

The incident boiled over when Perry later appeared to reference the backstage encounter during a televised promo, which drew the ire of Punk. He asked Khan to speak to Perry, but he claims nothing was done, and so Punk had to take matters into his own hands.

According to reports, Punk two weeks later attempted to choke Perry during a backstage incident at the London “All In” event. Accounts differ on who was the instigator of the conflict. Regardless, it resulted in Punk having words with both Khan and Perry.

“I walk up to him and I’m just like, ‘Jack, why do you insist on doing this dumb internet s*** on TV?’” Punk said. “He’s just like, ‘If you’ve got a problem about it, do something about it.’ I’m like, ‘Come, on man. I would f****** kill you, what are we doing?’ And then, it’s like Chael [Sonnen] says, sometimes I just can’t let you get close.

“I thought I was doing the responsible thing. I didn’t punch anybody. I just choked somebody a little bit. Samoa Joe was there, he told me to stop. Then I quit. I turned to Tony and I said, ‘This place is a f****** joke. You’re a clown. I quit.’”

Punk went on to have a match with Samoa Joe that same night, his last with the promotion. Soon after, AEW announced Punk had been fired, with Khan later saying on-air that the Punk-Perry fight “endangered people backstage” and he felt “my security, my safety, my life, was in danger.”

It wasn’t the first time Punk was involved in behind-the-scenes drama at AEW. In September 2022, a furious Punk, then the AEW World Champion, spoke to the media following that year’s “All Out” event, and he addressed multiple grievances with his peers. including accusing wrestler Adam “Hangman” Page of taking liberties with a scripted segment the two had been involved in. Afterward, it was reported that Punk was involved in a wild physical altercation with Page’s close friends, AEW founders and wrestlers Matt and Nick Jackson (a.k.a. The Young Bucks), over Punk’s comments. Punk was punished with a suspension and was absent from AEW programming for nine months.

As far as Punk is concerned, it was the dispute with Page that sparked the brawl and laid the groundwork for his exit from the promotion.

“[Page] proceeds to go on live TV and not say any of the s*** that we talked about [in planning],” Punk said of the segment where Page allegedly went off-script. “I can’t hear him because the crowd’s so loud, and I really have to pay attention to what he’s saying because my responses matter. I can’t just say what I had planned, because it’s not going to match what he’s saying to me. And he’s saying some s***, I don’t even know what he’s talking about. I’m like, why would you do this? Why would you ruin [this]? TV is very expensive. Every minute of TV is hundreds of thousands of dollars between production and all that stuff. And you’re just s****** on me and you’re s****** on the business, why would you do this?”

“I went to Tony and the lawyer, and I said, ‘You need to fix that. Because if I do, you’re not going to like the way I fix it,’” Punk continued. “And I thought I was being professional by not just murdering [Page] on television. I know some people are going to be upset about that. ‘Oh, he’s talking about this guy again.’ But with me, respect is the default. I respect everybody until you do something that makes me lose my respect for you. I have never done anything to any of those guys. If they’re basing their attitude toward me based on some bulls*** their friend told them, I can’t help you. But I’ve got plenty of friends who don’t like certain people, and I keep relationships business. Everything went off the rails from there. It’s a shame.”

Punk later said he still has friends in AEW and he genuinely wishes the best for the performers and the company. But he said he and Khan differ philosophically when it comes to what is best for business. Since 2019, AEW has consistently garnered rave reviews for its match quality, diversity of wrestling styles, and long-term storytelling, though recent years have seen ratings for its three television programs stagnate, and live show tickets have been slow to move outside of the promotion’s major events.

Personally, Punk doesn’t wish to have any beef with Khan. Just don’t expect them to reunite anytime soon.

“I don’t like the drama, but the truth is the truth,” Punk said. “He’s not a boss. He’s a nice guy. I think ultimately that is a detriment to the company, but it’s not my company. I’m an outsider. I thought I was brought in to sell merchandise and tickets and draw numbers for pay-per-views and stuff, and I clearly did that. But that’s not what the place is about and some people didn’t like that.”