John Morrison shares his thoughts on CM Punk's injury and his comments at the press conference after AEW All Out.
Punk won the AEW World Championship by defeating Jon Moxley at AEW All Out. He reportedly suffered a triceps injury that required surgery during the match. At the post-show press conference, Punk made some heated remarks about Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks, which reportedly led to a brawl between the two sides. Everyone involved was subsequently suspended, and while Omega and the Young Bucks have returned to AEW, Punk's status remains unclear.
Speaking with Adi Shankar on the Bootleg Universe Podcast, Morrison, who worked with Punk for many years, shared his thoughts on the infamous press conference. He noted that, during their time working together, he could tell that Punk had a temper when things didn't go his way. Morrison then described how Punk tends to lash out both internally and externally when he gets upset. He also noted that Punk was likely frustrated at the press conference due to his injury.
“You know what’s crazy? I listened to the audio before I watched the video. It was funny listening to it and just picturing because my friend had told me that he’s right next to Tony. He’s always had a temper when things don’t go his way, and in his defense, what he wants is to make it. He’s a guy that wants to make it, and screw anything that gets in his way. That was his mentality then, and I think it still is now. I think sometimes though, personally, I’ve got destructive self-energy, and if anything doesn’t go my way, I’ll lash out, but I lash in and beat myself up. Punk does both. So him and Mox, he won the championship back. I don’t know exactly the extent of his injuries, but I think he tore something, like his upper triceps or something, which is very frustrating, especially when you get to beat his age. He’s basically my age. When you get hurt, it’s not like getting hurt in your 20s. It takes a lot longer, and it’s not necessarily the pain that’s upsetting. It’s the knowledge that, okay, if this is a fully torn triceps, that’s six months to a year before it’s functioning at close to 100%. If you come back earlier, you can re-injure it. So there are probably a lot of things that are going on in his head," Morrison said.
Morrison went on to describe how he can imagine Punk may have felt frustrated with the injury due to the way age affects wrestlers; he noted that, in his own experience, he has had to deal with the fact that he can't move the same way he used to, and training produces diminishing returns. Morrison then emphasized that Punk's injury was disappointing, given his impact on the business.
"I battle with constantly that I didn’t move exactly how I wanted to move. I still, when I close my eyes, picture myself as 25. Of course I can’t move that way. That’s what happens when you get older. The years go by, and there’s diminishing returns to your effort physically. You work harder to be able to be function less athletically. That’s just a fact of science. That’s what happens when you age. So he’s frustrated because he’s got this big opportunity to carry a company, he’s got this huge paycheck, and he tears triceps. I think stuff like that, it’s not hilarious that he got hurt, it’s actually the shits. He’s one of the people in the business of pro wrestling that changed the course of the industry, and it’s never cool to see anybody like that get hurt," Morrison said.
He then circled back to the press conference and stated that he personally wouldn't lave lashed out at the AEW roster because he didn't think it was good business. Morrison also noted that Punk reverted to his character self during the scrum because he dropped another pipe bomb by expressing his frustrations.
"What I think is funny is how he dealt with it. In some ways, he just lashed out at the entire AEW roster. Whether they deserved it or not, I don’t know. From his point of view, they did. From my point of view, professionally, I would never personally say that about a lot of the roster just because I don’t think it’s good business. But on the other hand, that’s what he’s known for, and he just reverted to character, like dropping [a] pipe bomb. He’s upset, and he just reverts to, ‘I’m gonna blow the whistle on MJF, on everybody I don’t like on this roster, screw them, screw Colt Cabana’ [laughs]. He’s obsessed with Colt Cabana. ‘Screw everybody. Everything’s bothering me. I’m just gonna air it out right now and call everyone on their crap," he said.
Morrison and Shankar also discussed mental health in wrestling and highlighted Punk as an example. They agreed that he's clearly in pain, and he was dealing with his injury and the frustrations he likely felt as someone who had just won the title.
MLW recently announced that Morrison will make his return at the MLW Blood & Thunder event. More information is available here.
Ricky Starks recently stated that he wished he got to face CM Punk. Check out his comments here.
Eric Bischoff previously shared his thoughts on Punk's actions at the All Out scrum. Click here to see what he had to say.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a H/T and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
