AEW made the decision to air the footage from the highly-publicized backstage fight between CM Punk and Jack Perry that occurred at All In last year in London. While the footage was aired as part of the build to an upcoming bout between FTR and The Young Bucks, all of the attention was on that particular clip, which directly led to Punk’s firing from the promotion and his eventual return to WWE.
The clip essentially backed up the version of the events that Punk laid out on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour last week, and in the aftermath of the clip hitting the internet, the always-outspoken Punk took to his Instagram Story and reacted to the whole thing. If you know anything about CM Punk, you will not be surprised to learn that he was not subtle here.
Punk was not the only ex-AEW wrestler to react strongly to the clip, as Shawn Spears — who is currently in NXT — posted this to his Twitter account.
There is even footage that shows fans in the arena on Wednesday night in Charleston watching the footage and chanting Punk’s name.
LMFAOOOOOOO THE AEW FANS WERE CHEERING FOR CM PUNK DURING THE VIDEO FOOTAGE 😭
It couldn’t get any worse than that 💀
— EliteRockerz 𝕏 (@EliteClubS0B) April 11, 2024
Our own Raj Prashad spoke to AEW CEO Tony Khan in the lead-up to Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite, and while Khan called Punk’s comments on Helwani’s show “interesting timing given where everything stands,” he claimed that the decision to air the footage was in an effort to promote the upcoming match at AEW Dynasty on April 21.
“It’ll be a must-see segment when the Young Bucks play this footage and talk about what happened at Wembley Stadium and how it relates to what’s coming up next for the Young Bucks in AEW,” Khan told Uproxx Sports. “I think that it will create a lot of interest in what this is all about. And I think the Young Bucks will have an explanation for why they think this is important and why it’s relevant to what’s going on at AEW Dynasty on pay-per-view.”