According to a number of recent reports CM Punk isn’t exactly a popular name within much of the AEW locker room.
After riding into All Elite Wrestling on a wave of optimism and good will back in August 2021, Punk has seemingly fallen from favour following his well publicised outburst after AEW All Out.
On September 4th, Punk appeared at the post-show media scrum where he vented his frustrations at Executive Vice Presidents The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, as well as Hangman Adam Page and Colt Cabana. These comments sparked a brawl backstage, which ended with multiple suspensions and a lengthy investigation.
In recent weeks it has been reported that Chris Jericho told Punk he was a “cancer” in the locker room, while a number of key figures said that they wouldn’t work with the star if he returned.
However, speaking during an appearance on The Family Business, second-generation wrestler Brock Anderson explained that he had seen a very different side to CM Punk during their interactions. Anderson recalled the former AEW World Champion offering he and Lee Johnson advice following a match against FTR on Rampage back in January.
Anderson explained that it was “really cool” for a star such as Punk to take time out of what they were doing to offer help and advice to two younger performers.
“After the match … when we came back through the curtain, he motioned us over and said, ‘Come here, I want to talk to you,'” Anderson recalled on “The Family Business.” “He pulls me and Lee into his room and says, ‘All right, what do you think you did right?’ … He told us what we did right, and it wasn’t even what we thought it was.”
“For a guy of CM Punk’s magnitude who was the top guy in the business at that time to take the time to say to two greenhorns ‘let me show you what you did right, what you did wrong and what you can improve on’ was really cool.”
Brock Anderson joined AEW in June 2021 after training under The Nightmare Family’s QT Marshall.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that CM Punk and AEW have been negotiating a buy-out of his contract, while speculation about a shock return to WWE increases.
H/t to Wrestling Inc