On March 25, CM Punk posted and then quickly deleted an Instagram story where he was responding to a comment made by Dave Meltzer on a message board.
Meltzer originally posted that AEW got a legal letter from Punk saying that he "wasn't down" to lose the AEW Championship to Jon Moxley, seemingly referencing Moxley defeating Punk on the August 24 episode of AEW Dynamite.
In the Instagram post, Punk stated he wasn't officially cleared for that match, he thought Moxley's idea to recreate Rocky 3 with a squash match followed by a more competitive bout sucked, and that Moxley didn't want to lose to him.
Appearing on The Sessions with Renee Paquette, Moxley responded.
"No," he said because asking if he wanted to comment on Punk's message. "There is nothing that has unfolded. It's fucking annoying. Just because somebody said some stupid shit on social media, that's not news, but it is and it ends up being a thing. I don't want to get dragged into this dumb shit. I could fucking unload on a lot of fucking people right now. When I start getting dragged into this shit, it tempts me to do that, but I'm not going to fucking sink to that level."
Moxley continued, "I will say this, I'm going to give you a tidbit of information, from my point of view. The entire summer, I was not under contract, no contract. Free agent. I was at SummerSlam weekend wrestling El Desperado and shit. I could have walked into SummerSlam that night with the AEW belt, had I been so inclined. Nobody knew that because I don't put my shit out there in the world and let everybody know everything about my business. I was not under contract. The reason being, if you're curious, because I got out of rehab, my contract was coming up, they extended it for the time that I missed, cool. I'm glad they did because I didn't want to feel like I owed them anything. They extended it, it was coming up, they were talking to me about it. The last thing I wanted to do when I first got out of rehab because all they were telling me was, logic would tell you, don't go back to wrestling because you're going to fall into the same ol' habits. I wanted to ease back into it and see what life was like on the other side. The last thing I wanted to do was hurry up and sign a big long-term commitment. What if shit started going off the rails? I was like, 'actually, being sober is awesome, I'm having so much fun.' I was working with my friends, Blackpool Combat Club, me and Bryan (Danielson), (William) Regal. They're talking to me about signing a new [contract]. If everything stays exactly like it is right now, I'll be here forever. You can pay me in cash in an envelope at the end of the night, I don't give a fuck, but I can't tell you what I'm going to feel like in six months. Especially not in three or five years. Once I make a commitment, then I will push through injuries and push myself too hard and I will do all these things that add up and lead you down that road. I was not in a hurry to make any kind of grand commitments at first.
"That being said, during this time period, the night what's his dick [CM Punk] is talking about, in Minneapolis, the night he came back and was hopping around on one foot, bumping around [Jericho Appreciation Society] after me and (Chris) Jericho wrestled. We're talking later about stuff, keep in mind, at this time, this is my whole point; I basically don't work there, for all intents and purposes. Tony is not my boss. I don't have to be in this room. I don't have to do shit. Even me being in this room and offering and agreeing to a storyline that puts you over at the pay-per-view, if anything, I'm bending over backward for Tony (Khan) and for this dude and the company and everybody. I didn't have to. I didn't have to do shit. If anything, I was bending over backward. That's it. It's not even controversial."
Moxley won the Interim AEW World Title after Punk suffered a foot injury following AEW Double or Nothing 2022. Once Punk was cleared to return, a unification bout was set up. Moxley quickly defeated Punk on the August 24 episode of AEW Dynamite before losing a longer bout at AEW All Out 2022.
Punk suffered a triceps injury at All Out and was suspended for his role in an altercation with Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) after the event.
When asked about the pressure that comes with being "the guy" in unplanned situations, Moxley replied, "That's what a big part of my career has been. You have to be ready to seize the opportunities when they arise. Last time we did this was before Forbidden Door when I got slotted in against Hiroshi Tanahashi, which turned out amazing. It was an opportunity and you have to be ready. You never know what's around the corner. Be ready at all times. It's never been the plan to build everything around me. The only time it was kind of like that, the pandemic happened and the whole world shut down. Does it get annoying to be like, 'You know, if you had just gone with me in the first place, we wouldn't be going through this again?' It kind of does. Also, I don't complain, I see the good in everything and I'm having so much fun and life is good. I don't want any negative bullshit. I will say this, and I hate to say it because I don't think I've ever said anything even remotely negative about AEW, but I will say this, as an observer, I spent eight years on the Indies, a couple years in WWE developmental, eight years in WWE; I have never seen so much bullshit drama in one place in my entire fucking life. I hate to say that. I don't know if it's the age of social media, shit gets blown out of proportion. One person types one stupid drunk tweet and all of a sudden it's all anybody wants to talk about."
Moxley went on to clarify, "Let me be clear, the vast majority of people there don't cause any bullshit, but they're getting sucked down into the shit like everybody else, into the muck. There are plenty of people who just want to get better and perform and just do this job. I'm not an official coach, I don't ever want to be a producer, an official producer. I don't want to wear a headset and write stuff down. I like being a coach, but I'm not an official coach. I can coach people that I think are worth it. I'll give time to anybody."
Moxley continued by noting that he doesn't like giving advice, but he will toss out ideas and others are free to use or not use that idea.
Moxley remains a focal point of AEW, wrestling nearly every week on television. It is unknown if or when Punk will return to the company.
Fightful Select has more on Punk's status with AEW.
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