00:00 Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk News, I'm Luke Owen and this is wrestling news.
00:11 And yes, we're going to get into all of the latest CM Punk drama shortly as I know
00:15 you're all still desperate to hear about it, but first…
00:18 Don Callis has a new t-shirt and it costs a lot of money.
00:21 Yes, this brand spanking new Don Callis t-shirt can be yours for the low, low price of just
00:26 $109.99.
00:33 This t-shirt company is taking things too far, but there is a good reason for its high
00:36 price point according to Callis, who tweeted that all proceeds go to buy Kota Ibushi a
00:41 new support animal now that Kenny is broken.
00:44 Lol.
00:45 Right?
00:46 Anyway, onto the CM Punk stuff.
00:47 It's now been a couple of days since the firing of CM Punk from AEW and the effects
00:52 are still being felt.
01:04 There is still a lot to the story that we don't know, and possibly might never ever
01:08 know - which would include the strength and severity of the "lunge" that Punk reportedly
01:13 made against Tony Khan at All In.
01:15 Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio over the weekend that he went lightly on that
01:20 "lunge" quote, which came from an eyewitness to the fight who was said to be a key eyewitness.
01:25 Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrator writes that Khan did feel physically threatened during
01:30 the incident.
01:31 This has been brought up in a few places, like the statement AEW released about Punk's
01:36 firing where Khan wrote that he made the decision to can Punk in the best interests of the amazing
01:41 people who make AEW possible every week, and he alluded to it in his pre-show promo at
01:46 Collision which was heavily booed by the Chicago crowd.
01:49 Justin Barrasso writes, "I've heard from more than a few people in wrestling, including
01:53 WWE, criticizing Khan's speech before Collision."
01:57 However, Barrasso notes that Khan did have one supporter in Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat
02:01 who reportedly hugged Khan when he went backstage and congratulated him on the promo.
02:06 According to Barrasso, Steamboat pointed out that Khan turned the majority of boos into
02:09 cheers, reminding him that it's no easy feat in any building.
02:14 All Out might have provided us some answers on what's next for AEW, but there is a big
02:18 question mark over what's next for CM Punk.
02:21 Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio noted that Punk really wanted to do the G1 and of
02:25 course there's plenty of rumours circulating that he could be making a play to return to
02:29 WWE.
02:30 But the last time he was fired from WWE, he did something else.
02:37 Losing UFC.
02:38 And a podcast.
02:39 The infamous Art of Wrestling podcast episode where Punk detailed his final few years in
02:44 WWE and his frustrations within that time is still talked about to this day.
02:49 It led to the combustion of his friendship with the show's host Colt Cabana, and led
02:53 to several lawsuits involving WWE.
02:56 And Barrasso writes in Sports Illustrated, "This is by no means the end of Phil Brooks
03:00 as CM Punk, with sources close to both sides expecting a response from Punk that could
03:05 be explosive."
03:07 Legally it will be interesting to know what Punk can and cannot say, or whether or not
03:12 the ban on him speaking publicly about Kenny Omega or The Young Bucks came to an end when
03:16 his contract with AEW did.
03:19 It all remains to be seen.
03:21 And speaking of seeing, did anyone else notice a lack of signs for CM Punk at All Out?
03:26 Well now we know why.
03:27 While many fans, critics and indeed wrestlers completely understand Tony Khaa's decision
03:31 to terminate the contract with CM Punk, the timing of the news was obviously far, far
03:37 from ideal.
03:38 As AEW spent the weekend in Chicago, the home of CM Punk, which is what led to Khan getting
03:43 a lot of big boos when he made his speech to the crowd at Collision.
03:47 But remarkably that feeling was different the following night for All Out, with The
03:51 Young Bucks getting great reactions as did Hangman Page and Kenny Omega.
03:55 It's a far cry from when The Elite had their trios match against Death Triangle last year
03:59 following Brawl Out, where the Chicago crowd turned on them hard way.
04:04 But that isn't to say that there was no punk love in the building, you just wouldn't
04:08 have seen a lot of it.
04:09 And that's because fan footage was released to Twitter which revealed that security was
04:13 removing signs related to punk.
04:16 A rumour started to circulate online that security was also asking people wearing punk
04:20 shirts to turn them inside out so they couldn't be seen on camera.
04:24 However, you don't need to be a super sleuth journalist like Sean Ross Sapp to figure out
04:29 the second part of that story isn't true.
04:32 You just need eyes to be able to see that there were in fact quite a few CM Punk shirts
04:38 in the building.
04:39 Nevertheless, both Fightful Select and Wrestling Observer Radio report that while signs related
04:42 to punk were taken away, no one was asked to turn their shirts inside out.
04:48 SRS writes that one security guard said that "in jest".
04:51 Something that wasn't in jest however was a story that came out yesterday during the
04:55 All In broadcast.
04:56 Now this is an interesting one because it's clearly a story that everyone within the wrestling
05:01 media world has known for a while but never reported on it for whatever reason.
05:06 Because SRS tweeted in reply to Rovert saying that he imagined this story would be out in
05:10 the next 24 hours or so.
05:11 But it didn't take that long, and this is what the story is.
05:15 Back when William Regal debuted for AEW at Revolution 2022, he had a reported altercation
05:20 with CM Punk when Punk refused to shake his hand upon arrival.
05:25 And as we know from the Miz and LA Knight feud, that is a cardinal sin in the world
05:29 of wrestling.
05:30 Randy Haynes of Bodyslam.net writes in his report of the incident that Punk got in Regal's
05:35 face and told him that he did not like him, he did not trust him and that Regal was a
05:40 stooge for Triple H.
05:42 Discussing this story on Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez said that Regal kept
05:46 the incident to himself until he told some friends a few months later.
05:49 Which is when he got told to Wrestling Reporters who didn't report it.
05:52 And the reason they might not have reported it is because Alvarez said that Regal didn't
05:57 think the incident was a big deal at all.
05:59 When asked by a listener if this was a prompt for Regal to leave AEW and go back to WWE,
06:04 Dave Meltzer said no - noting that it was Triple H's taking a position of power and
06:08 a job opening that made him go back to WWE because of his close relationship with Hunter.
06:13 Meltzer said he was leaving either way, whatever happened with him and Punk, the end result
06:17 was exactly what it was going to be.
06:19 Which hilariously almost backs up Punk's initial report to claim against Regal being
06:23 a stooge for Hunter.
06:26 Lastly on the CM Punk news - for now - and Brandon Thurston of WrestleNomies asked Tony
06:31 Khan about Punk's non-compete status following his firing.
06:35 Unsurprisingly, Khan didn't offer much in the way of an answer, simply saying, "I
06:38 don't want to discuss the terms of the separation in that sense.
06:42 As far as what's going to happen in the future, I can't speak to that.
06:45 I'm not the attorneys who interpret all of that language."
06:48 SRS added on Twitter that he is also trying to find out this information and hasn't
06:52 been able to get an answer either.
06:54 Which means there's only one logical conclusion, CM Punk to WWE confirms.
06:59 But while much of the focus is on Punk, what of the man that poked the bear leading to
07:03 all of this mess in the first place?
07:05 Jack Perry.
07:06 Though at one point it was reported that Jack Perry was going to be punished harsher than
07:09 Punk for instigating the incident at All In with his Crimea River comment, this obviously
07:14 proved to be not the case - as Perry gets fired of course.
07:17 But that's not to say that Perry got away scot-free.
07:20 When asked about Perry's status at the All Out Press, Khan revealed that the former Jungle
07:24 Boy has been suspended indefinitely following the conclusion of the internal investigation
07:30 into the incident.
07:31 Khan said, "We suspended Jack as participant in the incident backstage and Jack hasn't
07:35 been around.
07:36 That's all I can say about it.
07:37 At the time we did suspend him and he hasn't been at AEW since AEW All In."
07:43 In other All Out news, we got the AEW debut of the former Lana in WWE, now CJ Perry, the
07:49 real life wife of Miro.
07:51 But for those hoping to see a lot more of the ravishing Russian in AEW, Tony Khan might
07:55 be here to piss on all your chips.
07:57 He told the All Out Press Conference, "I think it's great to have CJ here.
08:00 It's not a long-term guaranteed thing or anything, but at least for tonight it was
08:05 great to have her appearing with us.
08:07 And I thought it was a great surprise."
08:08 Fightful Select add that Perry's appearance was kept "very quiet".
08:12 CJ that is, not Jack.
08:13 In other All Out news, Sean Ross Sapp over at Fightful Select notes that the over-the-budget
08:17 Battle Royal was never seriously considered for All In last week, as it made more sense
08:21 to do it in Chicago as most of the talent was already in town for Starrcast.
08:26 Fightful Select also report that Bryan Danielson was cleared to wrestle last week, and Ricky
08:30 Starks only found out about his match with the American Dragon on Saturday.
08:34 AEW reportedly already have an opponent in mind for Danielson at WrestleDream next month.
08:40 And finally, SRS was able to confirm that Billy Starks was unable to get cleared before
08:45 All Out, where a pitched match was for her to face Athena for the ROH Women's Championship.
08:50 That's all for me, go and check out Oli's review of the brilliant All Out.
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