Following the many and varied reports of a physical altercation between CM Punk and Jack Perry prior to start of the PPV portion of All In yesterday (Aug. 27), AEW owner, president & booker Tony Khan announced the company would be investigating the incident.
A new report says that AEW is suspending both men, at least until they’ve looked into what happened. That could mean neither is available for the company’s second PPV in as many weeks this Sunday.
Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez tweeted:
The belief within AEW is that Punk and Jack are both suspended pending the results of an investigation, which would mean neither will work All Out.
All Out is Sept. 3 in Punk’s hometown of Chicago. Neither he nor Perry currently has a match booked for the show at United Center, but prior to this latest bit of backstage drama Punk was all but a lock for the card.
Of course, an investigation could be wrapped up by this weekend. But when they were looking into what happened and who did what in Punk, Ace Steel, The Elite trio of Kenny Omega and Matt & Nick Jackson’s brawl following last year’s All Out, threatened legal action was said to have slowed the process. There’s no word if either Perry or Punk has retained a lawyer in this case, but we won’t be shocked if we soon hear one or both have.
There are certainly enough different accounts of what happened when the two men interacted Sunday at London’s Wembley Stadium, after Perry’s pre-show match included a dig at Punk over an argument they allegedly had backstage at Collision recently.
The latest is from Nick Hausman of Haus of Wrestling, who has sources very close to Punk. Generally, the story Hausman reports lines up with the account being attributed to Punk yesterday. It includes what sounds like the straight-edge star’s official explanation for putting his hands on the younger wrestler:
We’re told Punk viewed putting Perry in a chokehold as a way to neutralize the situation, as he’s a trained fighter and does not want to have to fight Perry. No punches were thrown, as far as we know.
Counter to reports yesterday that both Punk & Perry were told to leave Wembley, Hausman’s version claims Punk voluntarily left after his match with Samoa Joe because it “it might make things easier”. It also notes that back at the hotel, Punk “ordered Nandos for some of the talent, whom he met up with after the show.”
We’ll see what we hear next, because this certainly isn’t the last we’ll hear of this story.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login