Report: ‘Divisiveness’ In AEW Has Gotten Worse Since CM Punk Return

AEW

It’s being reported that the “divisiveness” in the AEW locker room has gotten worse since CM Punk’s return on Collision.

Punk made his comeback on Saturday, June 17 with a promo that ruffled some feathers, and is set for tonight’s June 21 Dynamite as well, which means The Elite aren’t in attendance at the show.

Speaking with POST Wrestling, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer talked about the impression he’s received from the locker room regarding Punk being back in the company.

Speaking about Punk being set for tonight’s Dynamite, and the perception of him as a whole, Meltzer said:

“With Punk being on the show tonight, one of the top guys was just like, ‘We were told that we would not have to deal with Punk except for on pay-per-views, but here he is week one’.”

“There’s a lot of divisiveness that… it’s so frustrating to me because I see it so closely and I feel it shouldn’t be there. It’s worse now than it’s been. It hasn’t gotten better. Right now, it’s at a pretty bad point again.”

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Punk appearing on Dynamite tonight is likely a rare occurrence since the show is in Chicago, and it just so happens to be a few days after his return.

When asked if the issues have heightened since the aforementioned promo, Meltzer replied:

“The promo and the ESPN story. The ESPN story was the talk of the locker room on Wednesday (last week), which led to a lot of issues.

“I am of the impression that people were expecting worse than it turned out to be, but you still have people who… the people who really like Adam Page were not happy.”

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Punk’s comments in the ESPN interview included him talking about being worried that Page would legitimately try to hurt him and how that affected the quality of their match at Double Or Nothing last year, especially after Page had struck Punk’s face with a chop that should have landed on his chest.

Of course, in the same interview, Punk confirmed that he’d tried to make contact with members of The Elite but got letters from attorneys telling him not to, and it’s not for his lack of trying that they haven’t been able to communicate since All Out.

Fightful had also reported regarding the promo on Collision that some in the locker room thought Punk was “hypocritical” for calling other wrestlers soft after what he’d said that about the Page situation, although the Young Bucks specifically were said to have taken it lightheartedly.

Despite some people in AEW having a negative opinion of Punk, things in the Collision locker room were generally positive, with the debut show being deemed a success backstage, and Andrade El Idolo sharing a photo he took with CM Punk and suggesting the Collision locker room was “amazing” on Saturday.

Viewership-wise, the debut show was a success, drawing 816,000 viewers and 0.33 in the key 18-49 demo, with Punk’s opening promo being the high point for viewers at 868,000, and then the main event six-man tag starring Punk being the high point in the key demo with a 0.36 rating.

Punk had been planned for a match against KENTA at Forbidden Door, but Fightful has reported that has fallen through, and not because Punk rejected it – he was actually open to it but it was KENTA that backed out.

Pitched replacements for a Punk match at Forbidden Door according to Fightful have included Satoshi Kojima, El Phantasmo and Jeff Cobb.

If Punk is announced for a Forbidden Door match, we’ll likely find out who it’ll be against on Dynamite tonight, so we’ll keep you updated.

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