Current rumours suggest there is an air of dissension within All Elite Wrestling’s backstage environment – but Matt Hardy, a first-hand witness, doesn’t seem to agree.
Reports of tension within the AEW locker room appears to be the current theme of wrestling discourse. A mandatory talent meeting held prior to the 24 August Dynamite was said to have put many of the issues raised to rest, but not everyone came away feeling content.
Speaking on the latest Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Hardy jumped to deny the rumours, though he did mention how as human beings, different opinions will constantly emerge:
“I don’t know. I really couldn’t speak on any of that. I mean, I can speak from my experiences. AEW has been great and everything I’ve done has been good. There’s no outright chaos and dissension backstage. Whatever kind of conversations that happen between [CM] Punk and the people in the office, I mean, I’m not privy to that right now, but he came last week and he was there to do business, obviously.
It’s real life. It’s human beings interacting with each other and they’re gonna have differences of opinion. They’re gonna get upset with one another. Even going back to what I said about how Jeff [Hardy] resented Punk whenever he made those comments, I mean, things happen.
People are human beings and they have emotions and they feel, so yeah, but I mean at the end of the day, people love the f*cking drama from behind the scenes and backstage. So a lot of times, especially to the diehard fans, that’s almost more interesting to them than the actual kick-ass product they get to see right in front of their face that we’re doing for them.”
Fightful Select reported on the aforementioned talent meeting that Tony Khan, The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega were among the names who spoke up. Omega is the only one alleged to have been tough on the locker room, though this is believed to have been “tough love”.
Issues between CM Punk and AEW’s front office appeared to be a major issue, particularly after his promo on the 17 August Dynamite. Issues between the two parties were reportedly so severe that, at one point, it wasn’t known if Punk would even be making the journey to AEW television.
It’s unknown what the atmosphere backstage is like as of this writing, though it’s noted that Bobby Fish has departed a week and Malakai Black was reportedly denied his release request.