CM Punk's interview on MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani had a domino effect on the wrestling world. Once he shared his version of the events between him and Jack Perry from the backstage of AEW: All In Zero Hour in 2023, Tony Khan decided to air the footage of the altercation that led to both parties leaving promotion.
Reports suggested that The Young Bucks disagreed with Khan, the President of AEW, but the footage was finally aired on an episode of AEW: Dynamite.
The Bucks and Punk were seemingly in a real-life feud, and signs of that feud surfaced when Punk lashed out at them and other wrestlers in AEW, during the post-match media scrum at All Out, 2022. Punk's comments led to them allegedly confronting him, proceeding in the nicknamed 'Brawl Out.' At All In, 2023, The Voice of the Voiceless had another backstage altercation with Jack Perry.
According to Wrestling Observer Network (WON), the Bucks have moved on from their CM Punk situation. However, they were part of the footage airing because they thought it would help create heat for their feud with FTR:
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"The Young Bucks have personally moved on from the CM Punk situation and it felt weird to have gone back to the past, but were happy to try and turn it into helping their feud with FTR.- WON," the tweet read.
For the record, FTR and CM Punk were part of the most popular stables in AEW, the CMFTR. The tag team's Dax has supported Punk earlier. FTR is currently in a feud with The Young Bucks.
Tony Khan has justified the airing of the CM Punk-Perry backstage footage
Rumors of the footage being aired started a few days ago, and later, Khan confirmed the existence and the airing of the footage and justified it. He spoke about the airing during an interview with Sports Illustrated:
"AEW has a great track record on delivering what we advertise, and it is real footage, The Young Bucks will show backstage footage from All In, the most important event in AEW history–the world record-holder for the most tickets ever sold for any wrestling record, over 81,035 total–and it was an important night backstage, as well," he said.
He also said that AEW strives to put on the best show.
The controversy that has led to all of this was Jack Perry being denied permission to use real glass during one of his spots in a match at AEW Collision. The young wrestler referenced this incident during his match with HOOK for the FTW Championship at AEW: All In, Zero Hour, by calling out Punk's decision on Live TV, before taking a suplex from the top of a car onto the windshield, which led to an altercation - the second one for Punk - in AEW.
It remains to be seen where this controversy meanders next.