QT Marshall shares his thoughts on CM Punk.
CM Punk joined AEW in 2021, and he had a memorable run with the company. He won the AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing 2022, but his reign was derailed by injuries. Punk was suspended after the infamous Brawl Out incident at AEW All Out 2022, and he also suffered a torn triceps. He returned in June 2023, and he became the face of AEW Collision. Punk's contract was then terminated after he was involved in an incident with Jack Perry. He returned to WWE at WWE Survivor Series 2023.
Speaking to Bill Apter of Sportskeeda, QT Marshall was asked whether he was surprised to see CM Punk return to WWE.
“Yes and no. I don’t think he got to finish his story, even at AEW. That’s become the term now, the phrase, ‘Finish the story.’ I think being in AEW, it kind of gave him his confidence, to know that the people were still there for him and he could still do it. Why not? If you’re gonna do it, and you can’t do it at AEW anymore for whatever the reasons were, go back to WWE, if willing to give him a chance. I always liked him backstage. But I didn’t think it was gonna be out of the realm that he would go back. The WWE has so people that have done negative stuff and then come back. I don’t think he really did anything negative. He just walked away, that was it. Yeah, he did his interview that they had a lawsuit about. But other than that, it’s like Cody. When Cody left WWE, he was a true professional. He’s been a true professional about leaving AEW, and I try to follow in their footsteps. It’s why I’ve never done any public interviews. You have to be a [gentleman] because the wrestling part is just a little bit of what we do," Marshall said.
Marshall continued by saying that he prefers to talk to people when issues come up. He then circled back and reiterated that he was not surprised to see CM Punk return at WWE Survivor Series, especially because the show was in Chicago.
"I don’t want to get punched for no reason, so I’d rather just talk to someone face-to-face, let them know, and then we take it from there. But it wasn’t a surprise to me that he was gonna come back, especially with Survivor Series in Chicago. It’s a layup. Why wouldn’t you take it? You know what I mean? Then you give him a chance and see what happens," he said.
Marshall was also asked whether he thought the reported issues with Punk backstage at AEW were blown out of proportion.
“Yeah, I mean, ideally, him and Jack, whatever, they got into a little argument. I don’t think it was anything…I don’t know the other part, which is what Tony had mentioned on TV. I wasn’t there for that. But ideally, there’s a lot of people that people don’t like at work [laughs]. I’ve worked at numerous places. We always joke about the fact that I worked at Planet Hollywood. I worked there for seven, eight years. I disliked about 90% of those people. The difference is, they never knew because I tried to be as professional as possible. That’s just the job, right. But things are gonna happen, and people get all worked up and so on and so forth. But it is a different time. I’ve always been the type that, hey, if there’s gonna be an issue, we can talk about it like men, and we can bring another person. When I spoke to Punk, I said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna bring someone with me, and we’re gonna go too it his locker room, and we’re gonna speak because I wanted to know from him. Hey, this is what I heard, and I don’t want to believe this. I’d rather believe what comes out of your mouth. That’s it. Any time there’s ever been an issue in AEW, the one thing that came out with I quit and I resigned, whatever, he was the realest person in the locker room. It’s the truth. I was honest. What I was told, and I was taught this breaking in, was there’s only one place that we don’t have to be 100% honest, and that’s out there in front of the people. Ideally. The rest of it, we should just be normal, level-headed, and be honest with each other no matter what it is. Just be honest, and if there’s an issue, then you bring in someone else, so that way there’s always a witness to what’s going on. You just talk it out, and that’s it. I know it’s not the most popular thing, but at the end of the day, I’ve been punched in the face before for running my mouth when I was younger. I’m not talking about in wrestling, I’m just saying in general," he said.
Punk is currently sidelined, as he suffered a torn triceps during the Men's Royal Rumble.
Check out Punk's comments about his return to WWE here.
During the interview, QT Marshall also discussed returning to AEW. Check out his comments here.
Fightful Select recently reported about Marshall's return to AEW.
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.
