Former WWE Producer Says CM Punk's Rumored Backstage Heat is "Not Just Because of Colt Cabana"

Lineal AEW World Champion CM Punk once again has the wrestling world's attention. The Best in the World made his highly-anticipated return to All Elite Wrestling two weeks ago, and it only took one minute of his subsequent week's promo to create the the headlining story for every news cycle. To many's surprise, Punk opened last week's AEW Dynamite by calling out Hangman Page for a rematch, which he did not answer. This is because that part of the promo was not part of the script, and reports after the matter claimed that Punk went into business for himself by challenging his former rival.

Since then, this story has snowballed significantly, with some reports going as far as to say that the AEW locker room is divided. Punk's unhappiness dates back to an old promo that Hangman cut on him, where Punk believes Hangman alluded to his issues with Colt Cabana. For the uninformed, Punk and Cabana's decades of friendship came to a bitter end in 2019 after WWE and Dr. Chris Amann sued Punk and Cabana for alleging on Cabana's podcast, Art of Wrestling, that Amann was responsible for Punk contracting a staph infection. Punk would win the lawsuit at a cost, as Cabana would sue Punk after, claiming that Punk held up his verbal agreement to reimburse Cabana's legal fees. Cabana is an active member of the AEW roster, as he was just promoting the upcoming AEW Fight Forever video game in Germany today.

Speaking on Wrestling With Freddie, former WWE writer and producer Freddie Prinze Jr. noted that the issues people in AEW have with Punk go beyond the Cabana drama.

"There's two ways to look at it. [Either] it's work-shoot and he's trying to turn heel or there's real stuff going on and it was receipt time. I happen to know that it's more of the latter, and I think he's just trying to take advantage of it and saying 'Okay, I'll roll with it,'" Prinze said. "But not everyone backstage loves CM Punk and it's not just because of Colt Cabana. It's because of the way they feel he's behaved since he's got there behind the curtain. It was actually something that Hangman Page said in his promo when they were having their run to the title [match]. I remember [Page] said 'I'm not just defending this title, I'm defending for all of those people back there.'"

Prinze continued, adding that he's heard many don't feel respected by Punk backstage.

"A lot of people don't feel like Punk shows anyone respect really, at least not the type of respect... Well, let's change the word cause respect is earned," Prinze said. "The type of dignity that one would expect at work. When you don't treat people as necessary parts of the pie, and I've seen this in a lot of movies, people look at you a certain way. That's what I've been told as the kind of stuff that is going on. Hangman Page said a lot of real stuff."

Punk stands opposite Jon Moxley tonight on AEW Dynamite, where the two champions will unify the AEW World Title.