[VIDEO] CM Punk hilariously references getting fired from AEW on SmackDown

CM Punk's attack on "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry at AEW All In has had the most incredible ripple effect that we've seen in wrestling in a while. In his first proper promo on SmackDown, he directly referenced his firing from AEW.

For the uninitiated, All Elite President Tony Khan announced that he had decided to fire CM Punk after the backstage incident at AEW All In 2023. The incident stemmed from the fact that Jack Perry had disobeyed CM Punk's request not to do a certain spot with glass, which seemed risky. Jungle Boy allegedly took a shot at him after the spot, and Punk didn't take to it well, getting into an altercation with the young star backstage.

Since this was merely a year after the All Out brawl incident, Tony Khan let Punk go. On SmackDown, Punk spoke about Kevin Owens and directly referenced "randomly" punching people in the face, something he did and got fired from AEW for:

It was a bit of an unexpected reference, and it appears like many in the crowd didn't catch on to what he was saying.

Either way, it was an incredibly direct throwback to the incident a few months ago. Punk eventually stated his ultimate goal upon his WWE return was to headline WrestleMania.