AEW's CM Punk Speaks Out On The Backstage Altercation At All Out: 'I Think It Has Been Exacerbated'

After being out of action for 10 months, CM Punk will make his anticipated return this Saturday during the inaugural episode of AEW: Collision, set in his hometown of Chicago.

The two-hour show, airing at 8/7c on TNT, will feature Punk teaming up with FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) to take on Samoa Joe, Jay White and Juice Robinson. Plus, Punk will take the mic to speak for the first time on AEW television since relinquishing his World Championship following a backstage brawl after the All Out pay-per-view back in September 2022.

To refresh your memory: Punk sat next to AEW CEO Tony Khan while making pointed comments about The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega during the All Out post-event media scrum on Sept. 4. According to Sports Illustrated, a fight involving Punk (who tore his left triceps tendon during his match against Jon Moxley earlier), the Bucks, Omega and AEW producer Ace Steel broke out after that. Both the World Championship and World Trios Championship titles were subsequently vacated on AEW: Dynamite, and a third-party investigation was launched.

Ahead of Collision, the wrestler is finally addressing what went down that night.

 "The first thing I said to Tony when I sat down with him and spoke to him after it was, 'Man, I'm really sorry I put you in that position," Punk related in an interview with ESPN. "I apologize for the scrum. But when you've watched that scrum, you're looking at a very, very frustrated guy who had told people."

During the All Out scrum, Punk also took aim at Hangman Adam Page, who he called an "empty headed f—king dumb f—k" for taking a dig at him on television months before. In a promo during the May 25, 2022 episode of AEW: Dynamite, Page told Punk, "You talk a big game about workers' rights. Well, you've shown the exact opposite since you've gotten here."

Punk returned the favor in his first promo back from a broken foot injury on Aug. 17, challenging Page to a rematch that was not on the card. This essentially embarrassed Page, who couldn't respond. Punk went on to defeat Page to win the AEW World Champion at Double or Nothing on May 22 in what he called a "garbage match."

"I'm trying to protect myself on stuff instead of actually just working and trying to put on the best performance I can," Punk said, accusing Page of chopping his mouth and chipping his tooth during the bout. "It poisoned everything for me, and it made it all really, really ugly, and that was what set all of this off, and here we are over a year later and ain't s—t been done about it."

According to Punk, Khan was aware of his dissatisfaction with the handling — or lack thereof — of the situation by the time he lashed out during the presser. "I just didn't approach it in the right manner, but tension was high," Punk explained. "I was very, very pissed. I pretty much knew that I had just injured myself again. I was hurt, and I was disappointed. Yeah, it's very easy for me to say I regret that, and I handled it the wrong way, 100%."

Punk also downplayed the alteration, noting that he didn't think it was a big deal. "This has happened in the last 10 months in hockey, in basketball, in baseball, in just about every sport. And it's covered and it's gone the next day," he said. "I think because I have injured my tricep and I've been out for so long, I think it has been exacerbated. I think it's been exacerbated by people spreading lies about the whole thing. And when, in reality, my attitude is, well, s—t happens."

And while the former World Champion "will always defend myself," he's also open to having a "full-blown f—king sit-down... discussion with everybody about it. But it hasn't happened yet, and it's not because of my lack of trying."

Punk's comments echo those from Omega, who previously spoke out about the incident — the exact details of which have not been made public following the investigation — encouraging everyone to move past it.

"There are things no one can talk about, so I'd encourage people to let it go," Omega told Sports Illustrated in November. "It doesn't change that we want a team effort in AEW. I don't even mean implicitly myself and my opponent. It also means the referee, the fans, the people who set up the ring, everyone — even a technical error can ruin the memory of a match... So I encourage people to move away from it because there is no information to be released. Though I cannot talk about it, I do want the fans to know I still want the best for pro wrestling."