All Elite Wrestling recently advertised that it would be airing the backstage altercation between CM Punk and Jack Perry that happened at the most attended pro wrestling event in the history of the sport, at Wembley Stadium in August.
On Wednesday night, they made good on that promise.
Video Reflects What Punk Described
What viewers saw was pretty much what Punk had described in an interview last week.
The video aired as part of an angle between tag teams the Young Bucks and FTR who have a match for the world tag team titles at AEW’s Dynasty PPN on April 21.
After a promo by the Young Bucks, the video aired.
The footage was shown with no audio due to it being security video. It showed Perry standing backstage after he had taunted Punk on camera in the match he had just finished.
You could see Punk approach Perry. Punk, whose match with Samoa Joe was next and was the kick off to the PPV, comes into view and approaches Perry.
They talk for about half a minute and then their exchange appears to look more heated.
Punk eventually shoves Perry and then grabs him before Samoa Joe breaks the two up.
An irate Punk then appears to yell at AEW head Tony Khan, while being held back by agent Jerry Lynn and wrestler Malakai Black.
This exchange comes after an altercation with the Bucks and Kenny Omega backstage at the All Out PPV in 2021.
Punk was fired on September 2 “with cause” for the Wembley incident and then returned to WWE in November at their Survivor Series PPV in his hometown of Chicago.
‘I Thought I Was Doing the Responsible Thing’
During an interview on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani last week, Punk described basically what the video that AEW showed.
“I walk up to him and I’m like, ‘Jack, why do you insist on doing this dumb internet s*** on TV?” Punk told Helwani. “He’s like, if you have a problem, do something about it.’ I was like, ‘Come on man. I can f***ing kill you. What are we doing?”
“I thought I was doing the responsible thing,” Punk said. “I didn’t punch anybody. I just choked somebody a little bit. Samoa Joe was there, told me to stop. I quit. I turned to Tony and said, ‘This place is a f***ing joke. You’re a clown. I quit.’ I went to my room, Joe and Jerry Lynn came and got me and we’re like, ‘Let’s go out there and kill it.”
Punk defeated Samoa Joe in his Wembley match.
Many believe that AEW aired the video Wednesday night not only for the tag team storyline but in anticipation of brining back Jack Perry, who has been suspended.
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