The wrestling oasis that was AEW first began to show cracks in Spring 2022. Following his victory over MJF at AEW Revolution, CM Punk was inserted into the world title picture and embarked on a feud with AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page. What ran as a fairly straight-forward babyface vs. babyface program was evidently layered with animosity in hindsight. Punk would beat Page for the title but broke his foot three days later, forcing him to miss the next two months. The Second City Saint returned to AEW TV in August 2022 and utilized his first promo segment to call out Hangman for a rematch. Hours later, it was reported that that bit was unscripted.
Punk’s decision to go into business for himself there stemmed from unplanned comments Hangman made in one of his promos ahead of their AEW Double or Nothing encounter.
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“You talk a big game about workers’ rights,” Hangman said to Punk during a live AEW Dynamite segment. “Well, you’ve shown the exact opposite since you got here. I love this place, I care about this place. This is my home. And this Sunday at Double or Nothing, I will not be defending this championship against you. No, for the first time in my life, I’ll be defending All Elite Wrestling from you.”
Hangman’s words were in reference to rumors that Punk had gotten Colt Cabana fired from AEW. Punk and Cabana had a long-documented falling out years prior. Cabana was never let go from AEW but rather re-assigned to Tony Khan’s other wrestling promotion, Ring of Honor.
Hangman’s dig on the mic was not the only way Punk believed he was going to go off script, as Punk told ESPN that Hangman worked stiff against him during their AEW Double or Nothing match.
“I proceed to have what I think is a garbage match because I’m trying to protect myself on stuff instead of actually just working and trying to put on the best performance I can,” Punk said. “I’m keeping an eye out. He chopped me in the mouth one time, and I’m just like, ‘Okay, did you do that on purpose?’ You chip my tooth, and I’m like, ‘Alright, should I give him a receipt?’ It changes the dynamic. It poisoned everything for me, and it made it all really, really ugly, and that was what set all of this off, and here we are over a year later and ain’t s–t been done about it.”
Punk also told ESPN that prior to their bad blood, he had checked in on Hangman when he was sick with COVID-19.
Punk returns to AEW this Saturday on the premiere episode of AEW Collision, which airs at 8 PM ET on TNT.
