The issues between CM Punk and The Elite are now infamously written deep into the lore of All Elite Wrestling. Stemming from Punk’s controversial comments during the All Out media scrum, the situation is seemingly going to conclude with his departure from the company, a little over a year after he first returned to professional wrestling.
As for The Elite, they appear to be on their back to the AEW product. It’s said they were backstage during the October 26 Dynamite, the first time such an event had occurred since the aforementioned incident, while Fightful Select reported that they’re preparing for a televised comeback “imminently“.
Jim Cornette Claims CM Punk Exposed The Real Elite
Speaking on the latest instalment of The Jim Cornette Experience podcast, the famed wrestling personality speculated that CM Punk was perhaps being driven out of AEW, having now exposed Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks for what they truly are:
“So those three guys, they needed Punk out of there because he was exposing the whole myth of The Elite as this massive, powerful force around wrestling. [Chris] Jericho, think about this, without Punk, and if MJF suddenly somehow becomes a babyface, not in terms of being popular with the people but in terms of acting like a babyface and destroys his appeal, then without Punk and without MJF, [Jon] Moxley and [Bryan] Danielson just want to wrestle.
They don’t want to get in anybody’s way. They just want to, Moxley wants to do his Moxley matches and his garbage stuff, and Danielson wants to be nice to everybody because he’s a wonderful guy. So that means Jericho is the star if Punk’s out of the way and MJF is maltreated by the booking. These guys would rather be the big fish in a f*cking fish tank than one of the fish in the Atlantic Ocean.
And that’s what it’s been. And they’re the ones that ran their mouths from the start, they’re the ones that were doing the campaign against Punk from the start. All the friendly journalists that had a stake in whether or not The Elite were exposed as indierific f*cking not-ready-for-primetime-players were more than willing to lend a sympathetic ear to their viewpoint. And it’s funny how it’s all worked out.
The one guy that came in and got in everybody’s way from having Tony’s [Khan] ear, and what other appendages that they have of Tony’s, in their pocket, and being the star of our show. That one guy, boom, he’s out of the way, and now and when we hear, ‘Oh, well, Punk was poisonous, and Punk was cancerous’.”
Continuing, Jim Cornette also hinted that the lack of television time for the likes of FTR, Ricky Starks, and Darby Allin is due to them having complimented CM Punk previously:
“That’s why all those people that we quoted on the podcast a few, well it’s probably been a couple [of] months ago when this all happened, the FTRs and the Hobbs’ and the Starks’ and Darby Allin, I think. Everybody had great things to say about Punk. A lot of those people don’t seem to be on the programme a lot lately either. Maybe the EVPs felt betrayed that their brand of amateur-hour dog and pony show was not being praised.
And instead, the big star that came in and was helpful to all those guys because they were serious about their business, they praised him for it. Wow, geez, they must be on his side. So we got to get rid of that talent too, because they’ll poison our little f*cking clubhouse. They’ll tell people that we’re not as big as we think we are.”
Current reports suggest that CM Punk will be departing All Elite Wrestling, though talks have reportedly been held with regards to AEW buying out the remainder of Punk’s current contract.
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit The Jim Cornette Experience and link back to this article with a H/T to Inside The Ropes.