CM Punk reportedly went into business for himself on the August 17 episode of AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite, and Tony Khan has opened up about why his World Champion decided to call out Hangman Adam Page while going off script. The Voice Of The Voiceless opened the show and was supposed to talk up his match against Jon Moxley at the upcoming All Out pay-per-view. He got to that eventually, but not before sharing some harsh advice for the former World Champion. Word quickly spread that this wasn't planned, leading to rumors about wrestlers being generally unhappy backstage in AEW.
This isn't the first fans have heard about backstage beef between performers, but it might have been the loudest firework yet. Tony Schiavone recently tried to do some damage control, but one can't simply put that genie back into the bottle. To his credit, Khan didn't try to act like everything was peachy with All Elite Wrestling at the moment. There will always be dysfunction at some level, but the company has struggled with keeping these problems in-house since the MJF situation unfolded ahead of Double Or Nothing.
Khan reportedly called for a mandatory all-hands-on-deck meeting ahead of the August 24 episode of Dynamite, and the belief is that he wants to try to bring the heat back down to a simmer with talent. Before that news broke, the co-owner of AEW was on Busted Open Radio and spoke candidly about the issues between Punk and Page: "It's unresolved anger from the world title match at Double or Nothing. We had not really tied up all those issues. CM Punk made one appearance to wrestle after Double or Nothing, and it was immediately after that he got injured and was forced to step away. There was clearly some stuff that never got resolved at Double or Nothing."
How Did 2 Months Pass With An Unhappy Punk?
Good on Khan for being open about this ongoing saga, but how did it get this far in the first place? Punk has a reputation for speaking his mind, to the point where he eventually no longer fit in with WWE's long-term plans. It took him seven years to regain his appetite for professional wrestling, only to have Hangman Page shoot on him on live television. Two months later, Punk gives Adam a deserved receipt on Dynamite, but this isn't something that should have flown under the radar for eight weeks.
The Monday Night Wars were chock-full of performers switching sides due to backstage issues and ongoing drama. These are the kinds of problems that can split otherwise profitable wrestlers away from companies. AEW doesn't have the luxury of letting these problems play out unscripted in the middle of the wrestling ring. Get everyone on the same page and turn it into an angle; that's fine—one of the oldest plays in the booking handbook. Having top guys like Punk and Page going into business for themselves can't be a recurring issue for AEW. Not if it wants to remain a viable alternative to WWE, where the wrestlers (and storylines) are taken seriously.
Source: Busted Open Radio