Bobby Fish Recalls Issues With CM Punk In AEW, Explains Kicking Out of GTS

Bobby Fish recently shared a video explaining his side of his issues with CM Punk in AEW. Fish famously took serious issue with Punk, slamming the now-WWE star in a series of interviews back in late 2022 after he had left the company. Fish even challenged Punk to a kickboxing fight.

The issues stemmed from a late 2021 match where Fish kicked out of Punk’s GTS. Fish explained the matter in full during a new video posted to his YouTube channel. Fish talks about why he kicked out, saying Punk signaled to get his attention during the pin. He also said his issues with Punk were how Punk handled it after.

Fish also talked about a later incident when Punk tried to talk to him after an issue he had with Dax Harwood. Punk, of course, exited AEW in 2023 after his altercation with Jack Perry backstage. You can see the full highlights from Fish’s comments below:

On His Initial Interaction With Punk:

“I knew a week ahead of time. We set up this pending encounter between the two of us um the week before. And then the following week. Now, I did not know the man firsthand, but I did know him from a distance, having come up through Ring of Honor back in the day when I was one of Tony Devito’s students. So I was a guy that that came to the Ring of Honor shows before it had TV coverage… I was a a little bit behind those guys arriving, even though my age is similar to theirs. I got a later start, so I was one of Devito’s quote-unquote ‘kids’ at that time. So, I knew of CM Punk from a distance, but this was going to be the first time that I encountered him personally and got an opportunity to work with him to do our business alongside him.”

On The Match:

“The following week, I arrived to TV and I am off to Mr. Brooks’ locker room. His locker room was separate from everybody else. So I went there to put any thoughts together for our our match that evening. We talked about a few things. I was getting changed into my gear as we were doing this, I remember. Came together pretty easily. We had an idea of what we’re going to go out there and do. And then it was time to go out there and do it. We exchanged what I assume were well-wishes to one another. We went out, we we hit the ring.

“Dare I say, our chemistry wasn’t bad. I remembered him from my days coming up that when he went out and just wrestled, he was actually a decent wrestler. A pretty marginal athlete. I think he was very awkward. But as just a pro wrestler, I didn’t think he was bad… like I said, I think the match itself, our chemistry wasn’t wasn’t bad.”

On Kicking Out of the GTS:

“When the match ended, I was putting Phil over… I was set to do that that evening and planned on doing it. In the moment of the pin, he squeezed my arm or my leg or — to be honest, it’s all this time ago. Like, I don’t remember exactly what it was. But it’s what we call in the industry ‘The Office’ or ‘The Iggy.’ And you generally do it to get someone’s attention… there’s different kinds of Iggys, as crazy as that sounds. But the Iggy that I got in that moment was as if he was trying to get my attention. And now, I don’t know what it was or why it was. But in that split second I had an opportunity to, for lack of a better term, s**t or get off the pot. So it was like, ‘Okay, why is he trying to get my attention?’ And I let it pass, I do something to change the outcome of what’s happening and acquiesce to like, ‘Okay what what are you trying to get out of me?’ There was not a lot of time to think about this.

“So it was like do or don’t, and I did. And what I did was kick out. Knowing like, ‘Okay, if this wasn’t what the intention was, pick me up and hit your move again or whatever you want to do.’ I don’t know. It was an instance where I did not have a lot of time to think, so I kicked out. I know after the fact, a lot of people have said that like, I was going into business for myself, et cetera, et cetera. I can confirm for you that that certainly has nothing to do with what my mindset was at that time. But it was what it was.”

On After the Match:

“After the match is when I have a hard time respecting my opponent. After that, when we got to the back, obviously something happened. There was a mistake of some kind. So when I got to the back and my expectation was that, like I would encounter my opponent. We would discuss, I would apologize or at least own what happened. That opportunity was not given to me. What was given to me was Mr. Brooks in the ear of Tony Khan, who is the owner and booker of AEW. It was obvious to me that they were talking about me, because they were looking at me and talking. So, I approached the couple. When I got there, they split and walked away from not only me, but each other.”

“After that, I had to go back to the locker room. Not the boys’ locker room, because he didn’t change in the boys’ locker room. So, I went back to his locker room to get my gear bag, my things. I encountered him in there. And yet another opportunity for him to discuss with me whatever he may have or not had an issue with. I gave him that opportunity. I mentioned — I don’t know, I don’t remember what I said. But I gave him the opportunity to air whatever grievances he might have had.”

On Punk’s Reaction:

“He continued to say over and over like, ‘No, it’s fine. It’s fine.’ Meanwhile, the way that he was saying what he was saying, it was obvious that things were not fine. To me, it’s super passive-aggressive and it’s not the way men, it’s not the way masculine people handle business. And in that moment, I start to feel like — okay, I’m a pro wrestler way down on the list. I’m a father before I’m a pro wrestler, I’m somebody’s husband before I’m a pro wrestler. I’m somebody’s son before I’m a pro wrestler. So if you’ve got a grievance with me or there’s an issue with something I did or didn’t do, let’s talk about it. I’m not even saying like, ‘Oh, hey, we have to fight.’ I’m just saying, if it comes down to that because that’s the only way that you can feel as if you’ve been heard, then that’s fine because that’s what men do.

“But men also discuss and talk about what the grievance is. That did not happen. And I gave Phil more than one opportunity to do that, and and he didn’t take that. So that for me, yeah, I lost some respect for the man at that time. Because if you’re going to have a problem, the quickest way to get a a resolution to your problem is to go to the source. Not to go to the booker, not to go to anybody else. Go to the source. and the source came to back to your locker room. And you could have handled it there, but you didn’t.”

On How He Feels It Should Have Gone Down:

“I would have to say, because it was a split second and you don’t have time to consider, you either do or you don’t. I’m not sure I, if presented with the same scenario, wouldn’t do the same damn thing. And I guess my claim to Phil would be like, ‘Own your part of it. You Iggyed me.’ I don’t know why. But I guess it’s neither here nor there.

“I didn’t do it to go into business for myself. It was a misunderstanding, and misunderstandings happen, especially in any competitive line of work. And then it it comes down to the way you handle things afterwards. And I don’t know, in my opinion he didn’t handle things afterwards in the in the best way he could have.”

On His Issue With Dax Harwood:

“Months down the road, there was an instance on TV when I was tagging with Kyle now. We were we were Redragon with AEW. And they got us into a scenario with FTR. We had really good chemistry with FTR… I think it was a very good pairing. and so [was] looking forward to it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t necessarily a match, but there was interaction between the four of us. We got into it. It got very physical. Dax and Cash, they worked snug, which was exactly how Kyle and I liked to work. And they were snug that evening.

“I had remembered from maybe a couple weeks prior where we worked a tag team battle royal. And Dax really was very, very snug with me in that match. And I take no offense to it, I like it. However, you have to give as well as you’re going to get. So… I was snug back with him. Apparently that didn’t rub him the right way, because he was very bothered by that. When we got to the back, he was upset. I approached it the way that I always would, which is like, ‘Okay, you know, whatever it is that you feel I in whatever way I wronged you, like I’ll I’ll own that’… Things were heated in the locker room. There was a couple instances of potentially Dax and I heading out to the parking lot, but I don’t think there was any — we’re both professional, but like tempers flared was what it was.”

On Punk’s Involvement In That:

“After the fact, here’s where Phil comes into the story. Phil and FTR, I believe, were very friendly. Anyway, it caused a lot of commotion in the back. Phil approached me, and I believe it was Matt and Nick Jackson who I was speaking to at the time. And he approached me to say something along the lines of not being so aggravated and not being loud or opinionated, or some — I don’t remember what it was. But it was — in my opinion, it was a very locker room leader-esque role that maybe he bestowed upon himself.

“But you know, for me, he was not a leader. So when he said whatever he was saying to me, I let him know that like, ‘I’m not interested.’ He took what seemed like offense to that. But again, was very passive-aggressive about the way that he handled it. And it just again, it went by the wayside. It was what it was.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Bobby Fish with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.