CM Punk Allegedly Didn’t Want To Be AEW World Champion

The press conference following AEW All Out will go down as one of the most talked about incidents in professional wrestling for 2022. After successfully defeating Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship, CM Punk didn’t hold back as he took shots at Hangman Adam Page, Colt Cabana, The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega. The events that followed made even more headlines.

This resulted in a backstage altercation that resulted in The Elite and CM Punk being suspended as well as stripped off their respective titles. The incident has garnered a lot of attention and has been named “Brawl Out.”

Following the incident, many fans started criticizing CM punk for trying to take over AEW instead of putting over the younger talent. However, Dax Harwood recently revealed that wasn’t the case.

Speaking on his FTR podcast, Dax Harwood, who became close to CM Punk when the two started working in AEW, said that the latter was so joyous to be involved in the wrestling business, and he didn’t want to be champion in the first place.

“No, not at all. Punk was still so joyous and happy to be in the wrestling business. To be honest, he told me, when they were going to put the belt on him, that he didn’t want the belt. He said, ‘I just want to have fun,’ but he understood that Tony putting the belt on him would put AEW in a better light. He took it, begrudgingly a little bit, but he took the belt. At the time, he was taking me, Cash, Max [MJF], Wardlow, Hobbs, I’m missing so many guys, he was taking us out to eat, always paying for it. He bought all the girls in the locker room Starbucks gift cards and had one of the girls hand them out, anonymously, and didn’t say who they were from, but it was from him, just because he loved the atmosphere and loved being there. He also loved the work the girls were putting in. He thought they were busting their ass to try and get the attention that WWE’s women’s division was getting.”

Dax Harwood also revealed that he received a phone call from CM Punk following Brawl Out who explained his side of the story.

“All the boys in the locker room were drinking and having a good time, and we were hugging, I have picture of me and Jay Lethal on the ground together just laughing our ass off. I had my wife and daughter there, Cash had his girlfriend. It was such a great time. After our match was over, I shower up, we had a couple of drinks with the guys real quick, grab my girls, and head back to the hotel. I was laying in bed and I got a text from one of the wrestlers that said, ‘is this shit true?’

I had no idea what he was talking about. Right after that, I got a call from my buddy CM Punk and he told me what happen. I said, ‘You’re lying to me dude. There is no way that happened.’ He was covered in blood from the match. He FaceTimed me, it was that night. He said, ‘I want to let you know, you’re going to hear some things. I want you to hear it from me. This is what happened.’ I said, ‘Dude, are you okay? Do you need anything? I’ll come right now to help you out, get you cleaned.’ ‘No, no, everything is fine, it’s died down, we’re good.’ That’s when I first heard about it,” he said.

When asked what he believes to be the truth, Dax Harwood replied that only GOD knows the truth, and everyone is going to have their own version. He then admitted that there was some partial truth to what was reported and some of it was a bit exaggerated.

“Obviously, I wasn’t there. Who I perceive to be God is the only person who really knows the truth. Everyone is going to have their own version in their head. We’ve all done it before, we’ve made what we perceive to be the truth. What I’ve heard that is reported, there are elements of truth in it, but then there are also some things that raise a red flag to me. It seems like we’re only getting a portion of the story or what this journalist wants to put out, whether he has a bias or grudge against one of the parties, that’s just how I felt.

I also knew that I didn’t know the whole story. I also felt that the stories that I heard from a few people, I don’t feel like they would blatantly lie to me. I do think there are bits of truth, but I also believe that some fans have read too much into it and I think they should let what happened, happen, and it die down. When it’s all said and done, I can’t tell you that I know 100% of the truth and I can’t tell you that the journalist reporting is 100% of the truth. I know what I perceive to be the truth and from the things I’ve read and heard, there is partial truth and partial things that are a bit exaggerated.”

Since the All Out incident, CM Punk hasn’t made an appearance on AEW television. While CM Punk’s name is still part of the roster on the website, there were rumors circulating that Tony Khan was looking to buy him out of his contract. It will be interesting to see if Punk returns to the company. Stay tuned to Ringside News as we keep you updated on this story as it develops.

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