CM Punk Goes Off-Script on AEW Dynamite

By Liam Crowley

Lineal AEW World Champion CM Punk is on a collision course with Interim AEW World Champion Jon Moxley. The Best in the World and the Purveyor of Violence were expected to clash at AEW All Out next month, but in a twist, it was announced that the two would be unifying the AEW World Titles next week on AEW Dynamite. This has the wrestling world speculating on what this means for the pay-per-view, with theories ranging from a non-finish next week to the return of MJF to challenge the winner at the event. Another idea comes in the form of a triple threat match, where Punk and Mox would be joined by former AEW World Champion Hangman Page.

This stemmed from the fact that Punk opened Dynamite not by addressing Moxley, but rather calling out Hangman.

"I haven't been here in some time and I have some business to attend to," Punk said. "Some things are very important, some things are not so important. I want to get the not so important things out of the way. Where are we tonight? There's somebody that's from around these parts that I would like to challenge to a rematch and I would like to do it right here and right now for you beautiful people. Hangman Adam Page, you want that rematch? You got it. Right here, right now. Let's go."

When Hangman didn't answer the challenge, as he remained in catering, Punk demanded an apology from his AEW Double or Nothing opponent.

"That's not cowboy s--t, that's coward s--t. A little bit of advice, and I'd suggest you take [it]: the apology must be as loud and as public as the disrespect," Punk continued, before turning his attention to Moxley.

This strange part of Punk's promo took more than just fans by surprise. According to Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio, Punk's barbs at Hangman were completely off-script.

"If you're wondering about the CM Punk thing at the start of the show with Adam Page, that was weird. For everyone. As in, nobody knew he was going to do that," Meltzer said. "If you remember months ago when they were feuding and they said that there's a lot of reality to it, well, there's a lot of reality to it. I don't know what the deal was, and nobody else does either. Punk was supposed to go out there and talk about Moxley and build the match. And he did, after he talked about Adam Page."

While some have speculated that Punk's mention of Hangman would lead to a clash between them at AEW All Out, Alvarez stressed that Punk's words had nothing to do with the pay-per-view plans.

"Well I should mention also since a lot of people have read the wrong thing into that. Whatever they're gonna do next week with the title match, I saw a lot of people saying 'Oh you know it's probably gonna be Punk and Hangman at All Out because of Punk's promo at the beginning of the show,'" Alvarez said. "Punk's promo at the beginning of the show had absolutely zero, zilch, to do with whatever they're gonna do at the pay-per-view. So don't read into that, 'Oh maybe they're gonna do this or that,' that was not supposed to happen. Punk went into business for himself and then moved on."

There's no word on where the heat between Punk and Hangman stems from. The two traded shots at each other in the build up to their title bout at AEW Double or Nothing in May, where Hangman frequently warned of what happens to promotions when Punk becomes their world champion. It's unclear if words from a promo angered Punk, or if the two had issues backstage.

Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on Punk and Hangman.

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