The CM Punk-ESPN Interview Is Here: Punk On His Issues With Hangman, Admits Fault For All Out Media Scrum

In an interview with ESPN, CM Punk opened up about a variety of topics, including the AEW All Out media scrum and his issues with Hangman Page. He noted that Hangman’s comments about him not caring about workers rights, made during the build to Double or Nothing last year, were the start of those issues. He noted that he confronted Page backstage about it, with Page suggesting that Punk tried to get Colt Cabana fired, which Punk denied. Punk had previously accused the Elite of leaking that story during the aforementioned media scrum. Things with Page only got worse from there. Here are highlights:

On his match with Hangman Page at Double or Nothing last year: “And I proceed to have what I think is a garbage match because I’m trying to protect myself on stuff instead of actually just working and trying to put on the best performance I can. I’m keeping an eye out. He chopped me in the mouth one time, and I’m just like, ‘OK, did you do that on purpose?’ You chip my tooth, and I’m like, ‘All right, should I give him a receipt?’ It changes the dynamic. 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— been done about it.”

On apologizing to Tony Khan after All Out: “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.’ 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. That’s not the first time he heard all that. It’s not the first time lawyers were told all that. And I was just looking for something to be done and nothing got done. So, if you want something done right, you got to do it yourself. And I just didn’t approach it in the right manner, but tension was high. 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%.”

On the brawl with the Elite backstage: “We are trying to move past what happened that night specifically. I don’t think what happened 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. 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— happens.”

On being painted as the bad guy: “Now we all got to roll in the f—ing mud, and that never should have happened and has never been course-corrected. So, I understand people want to say that, ‘Oh, man, Punk is a dick.’ Well yeah, because I’m defending myself and I will always defend myself. I’m open to have a full-blown f—ing sit-down powwow discussion with everybody about it. But it hasn’t happened yet, and it’s not because of my lack of trying.”

On why he’s excited for Collision: “With more TV time, you’re only going to see guys like Hobbs and Starks, people who I think have the potential to do what an MJF [current AEW champion] has done with his television time but they haven’t been able to be positioned because a guy like MJF gets a big lion share of television time, because he earned it. We just need to do a better job of spotlighting so many different guys, and this is, for a lot of guys, sink or swim. Now it’s just like, well, now’s the time. You’re going to have to really bust your ass and prove why we’re giving you this spotlight and this TV time.”

On if he ever considered leaving AEW: “I certainly had some low moments, and I won’t rule out in those fleeting moments where I just say, ‘Ah, f— this, whatever.’ But I don’t ever think it was a serious intention to say that I’m done. There’s still work to do, and I think I’m excited about a lot of stuff that’s coming up. So, to just throw the baby out with the bathwater, just because of a little boo-boo, I think would be a little silly.”