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CM PUNK TERMINATED FROM AEW "WITH CAUSE"

AEW issued a statement today confirming that former AEW Champion CM Punk has been terminated from the company following his backstage skirmish with Jack Perry in London:

The statement reads:

"All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has terminated the wrestler and employment agreements between Phillip Brooks (CM Punk) and AEW with cause, effective immediately. The termination was confirmed today by Tony Khan, CEO, General Manager, and Head of Creative of AEW.

The termination follows a weeklong internal investigation of an incident occurring back stage at AEW - All In London on Sunday, August 27. Following the investigation, the AEW Discipline Committee met and later convened with outside legal counsel before making a unanimous recommendation to Khan that CM Punk be terminated with cause.

Khan offered the following statement:

“Phil played an important role within AEW and I thank him for his contributions. The termination of his AEW contracts with cause was ultimately my decision, and mine alone. Of course, I wish I did not have to share this news, which may come as a disappointment to many of our fans. Nevertheless, I am making the decision in the best interests of the many amazing people who make AEW possible every week - our talent, staff, venue operators, and others whose efforts are unsung but essential to bringing our great shows on television and at arena and stadiums throughout the world.”

Punk returned to professional wrestling to great fanfare in the summer of 2021 for AEW on the second episode of Rampage, leading to a massive surge of ticket and merchandise sales.  Everything seemed to be going swimmingly on camera until Punk won the AEW title from Hangman Page and suffered a badly fractured foot the week after at AEW's Dynamite Los Angeles premiere in June 2022.  Punk returned to the ring in September 2022, losing a quick squash to Jon Moxley before getting the win back at All Out 2022.  Punk suffered a torn triceps in that bout and his post-match scrum rant and fight with The Elite backstage quickly became one of the most talked about stories of that year.

Punk returned to the ring for the debut of AEW Collision earlier this summer and had a big hand in curating how that locker room would be run compared to Dynamite, which led to some other dust-ups.  Punk got into the skirmish with Jack Perry backstage at Wembley Stadium before going out and wrestling what turned out to be his final AEW bout, defeating long-time rival and friend Samoa Joe.  The fallout of the skirmish led many in  AEW to believe the Punk-AEW marriage was not going to work going forward and many were waiting to see what the decision would be.  We've heard from some happy about the termination and others really down about it.

The termination announcement would lead one to believe Punk is now free and clear going forward, which would make one think that WWE, which has its own tumultous past with Punk, would at least consider him for the future.  They are running Survivor Series in Chicago this November, which like AEW's own Punk debut and return, would be the perfect setting should WWE and Punk look to work together in the future. 

As PWInsider.com broke several months ago, Punk did pop up backstage at a Monday Night Raw, speaking to Paul Levesque, among others. 

WWE will soon be acquired by Endeavor, which worked with Punk during his brief two-fight excursion into UFC.

As there has been since 2014 when he walked out of WWE, there remain a number of questions swirling around Punk's next move and his future.

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