Unsurprisingly, CM Punk’s recent interview has got the wrestling world talking once again.
As soon as Punk was announced to be a guest on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, fans were expecting a newsworthy conversation between the WWE star and the MMA journalist. The interview did not disappoint with CM Punk going into detail about the Jack Perry altercation, Tony Khan, and his time in AEW among a number of headlines that have been written about him.
With AEW coming under fire from Punk for the way that many situations were handled and the former World Champion now a member of the WWE roster, many were curious as to how each respective company reacted to the comments made in the interview.
Reactions from both sides have been provided via Fightful Select. It was noted that multiple AEW talents posted very positive things about the company during Punk’s interview, which Fightful reported as being more about being supportive of the company than anything. One talent close to Punk stated that this interview was “bound to happen” and they hope that this is the end of the comments.
One veteran AEW talent said the following in the report:
“More than anything, what the interview showed was that this was preventable from all sides. Punk is happy, AEW talent moved on, so hopefully everyone just learns from it and makes amends in the future.”
Multiple talents from WWE were also spoken to by Fightful, with one stating that they were happy that the interview was released when it was so that it would die down by the time WrestleMania rolled around. Additionally, backstage personnel noted that they didn’t think that Punk really wanted to discuss AEW but was aware that “it was likely to come up.” It is also stated that Punk’s media schedule will be a lot lighter as he is dealing with an injury.
The report also notes that there is still no backstage unrest between Punk, Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins.
CM Punk Holds Nothing Back When Discussing Tony Khan
The near 2-hour interview covered just about every major headline that has been written about Punk during his brief run with the company. While signed to AEW, Punk worked closely with Tony Khan and was ultimately fired by the AEW owner following the events that took place at All In. During the Ariel Helwani interview, CM Punk held nothing back when giving his opinion on Tony Khan.