In the wake of CM Punk's All Out media scum and the brutal aftermath, news began to surface that the AEW World Champion may have sustained an injury during the main event match. This knowledge makes the backstage fight between The Voice of the Voiceless and The Young Bucks/Kenny Omega even worse. The match against Jon Moxley was a grueling one, and some eagle-eyed folks noticed that Punk appeared to be icing his stomach during his fateful meeting with the press.
Punk drew tremendous heat for his comments about the EVPs (Matt and Nick Jackson along with Omega) and Hangman Adam Page. For several minutes, he ripped into the executives for leaking false stories about him while calling Page "empty-headed" for going into business for himself during a promo several months back. Tony Khan has admitted that Punk and Hangman's issues stem from unresolved anger. It doesn't seem like anything was done about it leading up to All Out and the media scrum.
Fans wondered whether or not AEW would fire or suspend Punk for his comments, but it doesn't sound like that aspect of things matters much in the immediate future. Khan doesn't have to figure out what to do with The Best In The World because he injured himself during his bout with Moxley on September 4. From the Wrestling Oberser: "AEW World Champion CM Punk has suffered a serious injury that will require surgery, believed to be from a tope onto Jon Moxley during their AEW World title match at All Out, according to our Dave Meltzer." Meltzer said, "It's been confirmed to me no matter what happens discipline-wise that the title situation has to be changed and addressed [on Dynamite]."
Tony Khan Announces Tournament For Punk's Vacated Title
(this video contains NSFW language)
The September 7 episode of Wednesday Night Dynamite opened with a pretaped Tony Khan segment. He announced that the World Championship and trios titles would be vacated immediately. Whereas Punk was allowed to hang onto the title while recovering from the foot injury he picked up at Double Or Nothing, it doesn't seem like much consideration was given to that route this time.
Over the next two weeks, there will be a tournament to crown a new champion. Page and Bryan Danielson will wrestle on the September 7 episode of Dynamite, while Darby Allin and Sammy Guevara will battle on the September 9 episode of Rampage. Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley wait in the second round for the winner of those two bouts, while the final will go down on September 21 at the Grand Slam show from Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York. The winner of the final will be the new AEW World Champion; no interim attachment needed.
Source: Wrestling Oberser