CM Punk talks Brawl Out.
Following the conclusion of the All Out media scrum in 2022, CM Punk was involved in a backstage altercation with The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks). At the scrum, Punk went on a rant that targeted Omega, the Bucks, Adam Page, and Colt Cabana.
Before the scrum took place, Page and Punk had exchanged words in a live television promo back in May 2022.
While speaking to Ariel Helwani on a recent episode of The MMA Hour, Punk talked about Page's promo and stated that he did not go in the direction that was talked about beforehand.
"What he said didn’t matter to me. If I’m working with you, and we sit and talk. One of the biggest criticisms of WWE is, ‘it’s overly scripted. There are writers. Pro wrestlers don’t need writers.’ Some people don’t. Some people do. Some people prefer it. I sat down with him and we hammered...I was very gracious. We hammered out this promo. ‘You say this, I’ll say this. You say that, I’ll say this. Great.’ Then, he proceeds to go on live TV and not say any of the shit we talked about. I can’t hear him because the crowd is so loud. I’m looking at him and I have to really pay attention to what he’s saying because my responses matter. I can’t just say what I had planned because it’s not going to match what he said to me. He’s saying some shit, I don’t know what he’s talking about. I’m like, ‘Why would you do this? Why would you ruin...’ TV is very expensive. Every minute of TV is hundreds of thousands of dollars between production and all that stuff. You’re shitting on me. You’re shitting on the business. Why would you do this? I knew the promo ended with him punching me and I had to double leg him. ‘Why is he doing this?’ I didn’t know what was going on, but I was professional and afterwards, I spoke to him and was like, ‘Why would you do that?’ He thinks I got one of his friends, who hasn’t been fired, fired. I went to Tony and the lawyer and I said, ‘You need to fix that. If I do, you’re not going to like the way I fix it.’ I thought I was being professional by not just murdering him on television. With me, respect is the default. I respect everybody until you do something that makes me lose my respect for you. I had never done anything to any of those guys. If they’re basing how their attitude is towards me based on some bullshit a friend told them, I can’t help you. I have plenty of friends who don’t like certain people, I keep relationships business. Everything went off the rails from there. It’s a shame."
Punk then went on to detail the All Out scrum, joking that it was a top three promo of his career.
"Getting out there and seeing reporters that report shit about you like it’s fact without ever checking with you to see if stuff happened, who are openly friends with other wrestlers, it’s just fucking high school. It’s high school mean girls drama bullshit. I get there and I see these goofs and I just lose my temper. Top three CM Punk promo though."
Helwani then asked Punk about Tony Khan sitting through the scrum and not doing anything to stop Punk from going on a rant.
"It’s nothing he never heard before."
When Helwani brought up that Khan probably didn't know Punk was going to air out his issues then and there, the 'Best In The World' noted that he should have handled the issues beforehand.
"Should have handled it."
Punk was then asked to explain what happened after the scrum.
"Went home. Got surgery. Got my arm fixed."
Punk went on to say that he can't speak on anything else that happened after the scrum.
"I don’t think I can. I didn’t have to sign an NDA for anything I did wrong. It means I have nothing to hide. There is an NDA in place for that one. I wish I never did the scrum. Scrums are stupid anyway. Those things are really cringe."
Punk then went on to tell Helwani to ask Khan why a NDA is in place.
"You would have to ask the person [Tony Khan] that wanted me to sign a NDA? Yeah. I didn’t want anybody to sign a NDA to hide some bullshit that I did."
Punk also went on to note that he thought he was done with the promotion after All Out before questioning why anybody would want to talk about the incident anymore.
"I don’t know. Why does anyone want to talk about it? It’s grown into this ridiculous thing. Believe who you want."
Helwani then asked Punk if he thought that he was close to being let go from the promotion at the time.
"Nobody in the company spoke to me for six months. Paid for surgery, booked my surgery, thankfully Doc Sampson, who I knew from WWE and have a good rapport with, he helped me with that, but I was on my own with all that stuff. If you think I deserve to be fired or treated like that. That’s your opinion. The recovery for this surgery and that one is night and day. It’s almost a comparison between the two places where there is structure and protocols and professional people in charge of things and I’m not having to research and find a PT spot. I had no help. Nothing. That’s insane to me. Is that how they treat Jaguars players? I don’t know. I don’t think anybody should be treated like that if you’re a pro athlete. I had no help. Nobody would speak to me."
Punk finished off the topic by noting that his deal had a year left on his deal at the time.
"Yeah, maybe I’m the stupid mark and should have been like, ‘My arm is not healed.’ I don’t think my deal was almost done. I think I had a year left."
Elsewhere in the interview, Punk provided an injury update and said that WWE is protecting him from himself. Fans can learn more here.
Punk is set to appear at WrestleMania 40, as he will be on commentary for the World Heavyweight Championship match between Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre. Learn more here.
If you use these quotes, please credit the original source and link back to Fightful with an h/t for the transcription.
