Breaking News: CM Punk Officially Fired by All Elite Wrestling
|Statement from All Elite Wrestling and Tony Khan pic.twitter.com/3MtW6MkGDf
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) September 2, 2023
There will literally be so many clashing opinions on this, with many rejoicing while others roll their eyes. In case you missed it, this whole situation came to be after Punk was involved in another backstage altercation, this time with Jack Perry at AEW All In in London. This follows the storied incident from AEW All Out in 2022 that saw Punk and members of The Elite suspended by the company.
Who’s wrong? Who’s right? Who’s to say? It’s a clash of old school vs. new school, with some saying everyone should get along while others believe the numbers should dictate these decisions. We know Punk sells merchandise, we know Punk brought sold-out crowds to The United Center in Chicago going back to his historic AEW debut.
This era seems to be less about listening to veterans and more about everyone being nice to each other (at least in AEW.) Punk is linked to the Harley Races and Roddy Pipers of the business – paying dues, showing respect to those who came before you, and learning your way to the top. We’ve covered Punk’s rebellious nature for years on our site, as he clashed with WWE numerous times as well, so Tony Khan definitely knew what he was getting into.
While many will say “good riddance” in regards to Punk, others will still say “Is there business to be done with WWE?” Punk coming in with pipe bombs and fresh talent to go head to head with on the mic is definitely something that would create interest – but WWE would likely only open that door if they felt there was big money to be made since they already know Punk can be challenging to work with.
Then the other question – yes this termination has been announced, but it was made as AEW is literally hours away from two big shows in Chicago – so what are the chances this is leading to some sort of angle? Traditionally, something like this would jump out as definitely a work, but with AEW, we’re going to guess that it’s not and they’ll just have to deal with a rowdy Chicago crowd who loudly and proudly lets them know that they are royally pissed off that their hometown hero is not part of this weekend’s shows.
We’ll be watching AEW Collision and All Out to see how the company moves on from CM Punk, but when you remove the guy who has created the most talked-about situations in the company over the past few months, our initial outlook doesn’t appear to be too good.