At last year's AEW: All In PPV in London's Wembley Stadium, a backstage altercation between Jack Perry and CM Punk resulted in the latter being fired and the former being indefinitely suspended.
Now, though, in a bombshell interview with Ariel Helwani, the Best in the World has broken his silence on what happened that night and reveals that he actually quit the company after AEW President Tony Khan failed to deal with the situation.
Punk started by explaining that he had to speak with Perry during a taping of AEW Collision to stop him from performing a dangerous glass spot. It sounds like the former Jungle Boy was fine with that at the time, only for the rookie to go into business for himself during the PPV by taking a shot at Punk.
"[After the match,] I went to Tony Khan and I was like, ‘Please handle that.’ He was like, ‘What do you want me to do?’ I was like, ‘I’m not telling you what to do. Be the boss, please. I’m tired of this sh*t. I told you it was a mistake. I told you separate shows weren't going to work and now we’re all here. Please handle it because if you don’t, you’re not going to like the way I handle it."
Confirming Khan failed to handle it, Punk went on to reveal what happened next:
"Jack came back from his match. I was the next match. I’m sitting there and I got people with me. I’m not going to say who they are because I have a lot of friends who work there. I wish them all well and I don’t want them to be punished because they’re friends with me. I walk up to him and I’m like, ‘Jack, why do you insist on doing this dumb internet sh*t on TV?’ He’s like, ‘Well, if you got a problem about it, then do something about it.’ I was just like, ‘C’mon man. I can f**king kill you. What are we doing?’"
"I thought I was doing the responsible thing. I didn’t punch anybody. I just choked somebody a little bit. Samoa Joe was there. He told me to stop and then I quit. I turned to Tony and I said, this place is a f**king joke, man. You’re a clown. I quit.’ I went to my room and then Joe and Jerry Lynn came and got me and they were like, ‘Let’s just go out there and kill it.’ I was just too fired up and I’m fired up now and I’m probably going to regret talking about all this sh*t, but that’s what happened."
Asked about Khan's repeated claims that the incident left him fearing for his life - comments which have been mocked by fans and insiders alike - Punk added, "I can’t tell you what Tony felt or what he was thinking, but I never did anything that would make him fear for his life, but you know, he’s who he is."
Elsewhere in the interview, the Second City Saint made it clear he has no ill feelings towards AEW and said they simply had different visions for what a pro wrestling company is, explaining that AEW isn't about drawing crowds or making money (spoiler alert: it's about a billionaire living out his teenage fantasies).
Punk also talks about The Elite not wanting him in AEW and you can hear more about that in the player below.