Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
We've had a number of readers ask about comments AEW Champion CM Punk made on last night's Dynamite, essentially calling out former AEW Champion Hangman Page (who did not come out), then calling the lack of response cowardly as opposed to "cowboy sh**" and then remarking that the apology should be larger than the "disrespect" before asking if anyone else had any issues and wanted to come out before turning the direction of his promo to Jon Moxley to build to their bout to crown an undisputed AEW Champion.
Punk's comments about Page and anyone else who wanted to come out and fight him were not part of the overall plans going into that segment.
Instead Punk, who has the leeway to go in whatever direction he wants verbally, appeared to take the moment to call out Page. It appears there has been something of an issue with Punk and Page brewing for months, given that right before their match at last May's Double or Nothing PPV (where Punk beat Page for the title), Page, to Punk's face, buried him in a promo and treated Punk as some sort of interloper to the promotion that Page needed to protect AEW from, which made zero sense given that was never Punk's on camera role for the promotion or even in the build to that match:
The comments at the time were so far out of left field that I asked AEW President Tony Khan about them during a media call for AEW Double or Nothing prior to the show. At the time, Khan said the segment made sense because they are two guys who don't like each other and want to fight. He said the comments helped make it a compelling fight and if you were someone like Page there from day one, you could see his perspective.
Obviously, CM Punk didn't see his perspective and given this was his first real promo time since breaking his foot, he decided to give Page a receipt verbally live on Dynamite.
To the best of our knowledge, there was no interaction with Punk and Page before, during or after last night's Dynamite backstage. Whether any of this is turned into storyline down the line remains to be seen, but when Punk made his comments, we are told they were made without AEW's advance knowledge and in that regard, it was 100% a shoot from Punk.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
