Backstage Reaction To CM Punk’s Controversial ESPN Interview

CM Punk’s controversial interview with ESPN dropped on Friday ahead of his in-ring return on Saturday night’s premiere episode of AEW Collision on the TNT Network.

While it was speculated that the interview would be an explosion, Punk actually used the opportunity to discuss his issues with Hangman Page and took complete responsibility for the AEW All Out 2022 media scrum fallout last year.

Fightful Select is reporting that Punk didn’t do any other interviews ahead of Collision other than the ESPN article, which was what AEW chose. As we previously reported here on eWn, the interview was closely monitored.

The reason why Punk’s comments regarding KENTA weren’t published is that the portion was specifically filmed for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door II. According to the report, it was “a little different” than what AEW thought it would be.

Hangman Page, The Elite, and others were informed about the ESPN interview last weekend. As it turns out, sources in AEW felt the interview wasn’t as explosive as they believed it would be.

However, it was noted by several members of the roster that Page doesn’t have any restrictions with regard to talking about Punk, however, since Page never talks about him anyway, it is believed that he won’t cause any problems.

Last summer, Punk reportedly approached management about Page and asked them to address the issue. As noted in the interview, nothing really happened or at least not to the magnitude he expected, hence his frustration escalated, which led to the media scrum and the unfortunate backstage brawl at AEW All Out 2022.

While there were some communication issues over Ace Steel not being present at AEW shows, Punk has been planning to work Collision ever since he agreed to do it.

Punk communicated frequently with AEW President Tony Khan and expressed his willingness to apologize for the media scrum.

While it was previously reported that AEW has no plans on turning backstage issues into a storyline or an angle, sources on Punk’s side are hoping for the company to make an exception this time.

Punk has made efforts to reach out to The Elite about resolving things, something he stated in the interview. But so far, several members of The Elite want nothing to do with it.

Finally, it was added that CM Punk and Kenny Omega actually did talk immediately after the brawl at All Out 2022, with Punk stating that he never had any problems with Omega. However, because things were still heated at the time, nothing productive came out of it.

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