Top AEW Star Recalls Conversation With CM Punk After All Out

AEW

UPDATE: CM Punk has now reacted to Harwood’s comments calling for him to ‘make it work’ with The Elite. More at this link.

CM Punk has not appeared on AEW television since the now infamous AEW All Out media scrum.

The scrum saw a bloody and injured CM Punk rant about the executive vice presidents in the company while sat next to Tony Khan.

This led to a backstage altercation between Punk, Ace Steel and the Elite, which led to Steel being let go from the company and the other four men being suspended, with Punk still yet to return.

The starting incident for Punk was a promo between himself and Hangman Adam Page back in May, where he claimed that Page went into business for himself.

One of Punk’s best friends from his time in AEW is FTR member Dax Harwood, who spoke about Punk on the first episode of his new FTR with Dax Harwood podcast.

Dax spoke about his backstage reaction to the promo between Page and Punk, and how Punk reacted to his praise for it.

He said:

“After the promo segment, I went to Punk and I said, ‘that was really good, that was a great segment.’ They got the fans to react. It’s hard sometimes to get the fans to react to a babyface-babyface match. I thought it was a great segment.

“He was like, ‘Ahhh, I’m kind of feeling a certain way about it.’ I had no inkling that anything went wrong or went sideways or anything like that,”

Dax was then asked if it felt like Punk was beginning to become bitter towards the company heading into the All Out pay-per-view, to which he said:

“No, not at all. Punk was still so joyous and happy to be in the wrestling business. To be honest, he told me, when they were going to put the belt on him, that he didn’t want the belt. He said, ‘I just want to have fun,’ but he understood that Tony putting the belt on him would put AEW in a better light. He took it, begrudgingly a little bit, but he took the belt.

“At the time, he was taking me, Cash, Max [MJF], Wardlow, Hobbs, I’m missing so many guys, he was taking us out to eat, always paying for it. He bought all the girls in the locker room Starbucks gift cards and had one of the girls hand them out, anonymously, and didn’t say who they were from, but it was from him, just because he loved the atmosphere and loved being there.

“He also loved the work the girls were putting in. He thought they were busting their ass to try and get the attention that WWE’s women’s division was getting.”

Dax then continued on, recalling the conversation that he had with Punk after everything went down at the media scrum.

He said:

“All the boys in the locker room were drinking and having a good time, and we were hugging, I have picture of me and Jay Lethal on the ground together just laughing our ass off. I had my wife and daughter there, Cash had his girlfriend. It was such a great time.

“After our match was over, I shower up, we had a couple of drinks with the guys real quick, grab my girls, and head back to the hotel. I was laying in bed and I got a text from one of the wrestlers that said, ‘is this shit true?’ I had no idea what he was talking about. Right after that, I got a call from my buddy CM Punk and he told me what happen. I said, ‘You’re lying to me dude. There is no way that happened.’ He was covered in blood from the match.

“He FaceTimed me, it was that night. He said, ‘I want to let you know, you’re going to hear some things. I want you to hear it from me. This is what happened.’ I said, ‘Dude, are you okay? Do you need anything? I’ll come right now to help you out, get you cleaned.’ ‘No, no, everything is fine, it’s died down, we’re good.’ That’s when I first heard about it,”

Since that night in Chicago, various versions of events have come out, all conflicting one another. Dax was asked about what he believes to be true about the brawl, to which he said:

“Obviously, I wasn’t there. Who I perceive to be God is the only person who really knows the truth. Everyone is going to have their own version in their head. We’ve all done it before, we’ve made what we perceive to be the truth. What I’ve heard that is reported, there are elements of truth in it, but then there are also some things that raise a red flag to me.

“It seems like we’re only getting a portion of the story or what this journalist wants to put out, whether he has a bias or grudge against one of the parties, that’s just how I felt. I also knew that I didn’t know the whole story. I also felt that the stories that I heard from a few people, I don’t feel like they would blatantly lie to me.

“I do think there are bits of truth, but I also believe that some fans have read too much into it and I think they should let what happened, happen, and it die down. When it’s all said and done, I can’t tell you that I know 100% of the truth and I can’t tell you that the journalist reporting is 100% of the truth. I know what I perceive to be the truth and from the things I’ve read and heard, there is partial truth and partial things that are a bit exaggerated.”

Finally, Dax was asked if he believes Punk will be back in AEW, to which he said that he hopes so, and he hopes the four of them can work things out.

He said:

“I can tell you what I hope, because I don’t know. Everyone knows about the legalities of the situation and no one is really expressing what is going to happen, what has happened, and what won’t happen.

“I can tell you, all I can be truthful about, I can only tell you what I know and what I perceive to know, I hope that he comes back. I feel that AEW should have the Young Bucks in their locker room. AEW should have Kenny Omega in the locker room. I know that I feel AEW should have CM Punk in the locker room. With those four entities, it makes our talent roster so much deeper and better.

“It’s four guys who want to be the best. Regardless of what any of us think personally, I know that we all want to be the best and I know we all want the best for professional wrestling. It’s given us a life that we could never have otherwise.”

“This is my plea to all four guys. Please find a way to make it work. If we can make it work, we can set up the future of professional wrestling for a long time and we can change the course of professional wrestling for a very long time.

“When you think about it, unselfishly, we’re doing this for 20-30 years down the road so guys and girls can make a living.”

The Elite returned from their suspension at AEW Full Gear, losing to Death Triangle in a Trios Championship match in what turned out to be the first match of their best of seven series.

Punk is out with an injury that he suffered at All Out, and has yet to return to AEW television.

transcription via Fightful

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• All Out
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