CM Punk opened up about his controversial match against Jon Moxley in a since-deleted Instagram story.
Punk won the AEW World Championship by defeating Hangman Page at AEW Double or Nothing 2022. He subsequently injured his foot, so AEW crowned an interim champion; Jon Moxley won the title at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. Punk then faced Moxley in a unification match out he August 24 episode of AEW Dynamite. There, Moxley decisively defeated Punk in a squash match.
On March 23, Punk took to Instagram and revealed that he wasn’t cleared to compete in the match. He detailed the pitch for the storyline and made it clear that he wasn’t a fan of it. Punk also stated that Moxley refused to lose to him.
The post is as follows:
“SIGH. I wasn’t cleared to come back to wrestle yet. Then plan was to wrestle at the ppv. I sat and listened to Moxley’s Rocky three idea. I explained how I’d never seen a Rocky movie and thought the idea sucked but if the boss wanted to do it whatever. He said he wouldn’t lose to me. I’d never experienced someone refusing to lose to me. I just laughed. I asked Tony if this was what he wanted. He said yes. He’s the boss so I said okay but I’d need to be cleared first. They kept saying it could just be a squash so I didn’t need to be cleared. I scoffed at that. My health is more important. Dave Meltzer is a liar. Jericho is a liar and a stooge. There were plans but plans always change but I’ll never put a company above my health ever again.”
Jericho responded with a brief post of his own.
Following the loss, Punk ultimately defeated Moxley to win the title at AEW All Out 2022. During the match, Punk reportedly suffered a torn triceps. After the pay-per-view went off the air, he made heated comments about Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks at the post-show press conference, which held to a physical altercation between the two sides. Everyone involved was subsequently suspended and stripped of the titles.
While The Elite have since returned to AEW, Punk has remained absent, and his future with the company is unclear.
