A recent Instagram story by AEW star CM Punk about his matches versus Jon Moxley in the summer of 2022 was deleted. It has generated a great deal of debate.
A quick reminder Punk went on many a “deleted” rant this week about practices in AEW and not being cleared to work. As can be seen below.
Could this outburst help @TonyKhan long-term? That's the view of @DirtyDMantell pic.twitter.com/XCheCKdhyV
— Craig (Dirtsheets.net) (@DirtSheetsCraig) March 26, 2023
Wade Keller talked about the article and how it might have harmed his chances of joining AEW during the most recent episode of the audio program PWTorchVIP.com:
“For one, Jon Moxley and CM Punk do not like each other that much anybody I asked around will say that. It’s very clear. There’s a tension to a degree… certainly, they are not in a position now where anyone would predict that they would want to work together or if they would even feel comfortable working together on a promo or whatever. From what I can gather… the sentiment is that he’s just not welcomed back.
The wrestlers don’t want him back. The majority of wrestlers don’t want him back. I would go as far as even saying that my sources are saying the mass majority of wrestlers don’t want him back. One person said maybe one or two of the top third of the roster want him back….in top half. And then there are some younger guys who liked him. In terms of the top stars, the politics are not terribly among the top guys.
There’s some tension among the top guys, but it’s mostly, Punk doesn’t get along with Hangman, Punk doesn’t get along with Moxley, Punk doesn’t get along with Kenny, Punk doesn’t get along with the Bucks, Punk doesn’t get along with MJF. Actually, I’m not sure on the MJF thing, but I think the way things went down even that situation, it’s not as strong as it once was.”
“Him going off on Instagram really hurt the chances of him being welcomed back. One wrestler I talked to outright said that it might not matter what the wrestlers think if Tony Khan wants Punk back.
Punk might be brought back. My sense is that there would be something greater than a strong push back amongst top talent in AEW if Tony Khan tries to bring back Punk at this point. I think it would be difficult before Punk said what he said on Instagram. I think it’s going to be much more difficult now, but I don’t know if the odds of Tony wanting to bring back Punk have changed based on what Punk said.”
What Sparked The CM Punk Outburst?
Punk’s remarks followed a message board post by Meltzer in which it was implied that Punk was having second thoughts about participating in the Dynamite match, which he lost to Moxley swiftly.
Dave Meltzer has now addressed the situation on Wrestling Observer Radio and said that he is sorry for what transpired as a result of his post:
“So then this time, I did a message board post, that I really wish I never did because so much has happened since then in so many destructive ways. Not just him. It was somebody just going, ‘One thing we can say was it was all smooth as far the match that he lost to Moxley, the real quick match before he beat him for the title’. And I just kind of said, ‘It really wasn’t that smooth’ because it really wasn’t, there was a lot going on. There was drama and everything.
When I said it, it wasn’t writing a news story or anything like that, but when I said it, I never said a lot of it had to do with his injury. And it did. In his defense, he was coming back from a broken foot, and it was a serious injury. And, that played into it as far as when he was gonna be ready. Whatever you think of the angle, the way the angle was, and the whole Rocky 3 thing, if you had more time, the angle would have been better if you had more time. But because of the injury, you didn’t have more time.
There’s things they could have done. But the whole point is a message board post that I didn’t need to make and I didn’t mention the fact that the injury was part of it in the fact that there was drama, which there was. So it’s just like, there was. I feel really bad about it.”
“[…] He kind of blasted Moxley too a bit, and certainly blasted Jericho, and this was at the time when everyone is trying to… see if you can make up, and make this thing work, and do the best thing for the company. And then this happens which just… how it’s gonna turn out, who the hell knows, but it certainly is never a good time to do that. And Jericho had absolutely nothing to do with this message (board) post. Nor did Moxley. And now it’s like, ‘Ah, god’. I just didn’t like this.
I’m just really sad that it happened this way. I want the best thing for the business, both companies. I’m happy WWE’s doing great, and, shoot, I was really happy watching Wednesday and seeing AEW get the good rating and the good rating pattern which was a really good story. The match (Kenny Omega vs El Hijo Del Vikingo) worked, you kinda made a star in one night, we talked about that was a phenomenal match. So everything was kinda looking… there’s always ups and downs but that was like a real up. And now, who the hell knows what’s going on.”
