Recently, AEW made headlines after a mostly memorable Labor Day weekend of wrestling with not only Clash At The Castle (best show of the weekend) and NXT Worlds Collide, but also AEW All Out IV which many fans like myself and podcasters viewed as “the third best wrestling show of the weekend” according to polarizing AEW CEO and President Tony Khan.
AEW this weekend made headlines, but for all the not-so-good reasons when The Real CM Punk aka Phil Brooks came out during The All Out IV Media scrum where he became very unprofessional by not only burying the company, but also The Elite and his former best friend that he screwed over many years ago in Colt Cabana aka Scott Colton.
For those that don’t know about the origins of The Punk/Cabana feud: Punk and Cabana came into the business together and were friends for many years until the infamous 2014 episode of Colt Cabana’s podcast where Punk went into detail about his health concerns that WWE medical team didn’t properly address as well as his frustrations with his booking and the fact that he was never allowed to main event WrestleMania.
When WWE medical physician Chris Amann sued both Punk and Cabana for slander and defamation of character and he lost. But their friendship reared it’s ugly head when Punk literally turned his back on Cabana by telling him, “naw Cabana, you’re on your own now because I am good”, so Cabana ended up suing Punk for $1.2 million and in retaliation, Punk countersued and was settled out of court a year later.
The Real-Life Punk/Cabana was referenced in a promo earlier this year by the very controversial and polarizing MJF on AEW television when he told his former childhood wrestling hero, “The same CM Punk who feels that he’s not getting his just due, but is willing to sue.”
Even Hangman Page also mentioned The Punk/Cabana feud in one of their earlier promos this past May where he told Punk straight up to his face, “You talk a big game about worker’s rights, well you’ve shown the exact opposite ever since you been here.” It’s now understandable why Hangman would cut that weird promo because he’s good friends with Colt Cabana in real life.
My Promo On The Real CM Punk: The same CM Punk who claims to idolize Bret Hart is nothing more but 1990s Shawn Michaels destructive, arrogant, self-serving, egotistical prick (Shawn even admitted to that btw). The same CM Punk who claims to be a professional, but instead acts very unprofessional by shitting where he ate by publicly burying fellow co-workers and higher ups. The same CM Punk who acts like a bitch ass hoe when he doesn’t get his way. And the same CM Punk who slept with a fellow co-worker behind his then-girlfriend’s back at house shows. That’s The Real CM Punk aka Phil Brooks for you.
Then there was the backstage feud between Eddie Kingston and Sammy G after Sammy body shamed him in a promo on AEW TV and it later let To the two men fighting and later squashing their feud.
Then there’s The Real Life feud between Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa. To me personally, Britt and Rosa both have egos who personally despise one another whether it’s through taking jabs at each other on Twitter or on AEW TV.
The true origins of The Baker/Rosa feud: Britt Baker who was pretty hot in 2020 during her earlier heel run took issue with Thunder Rosa when she perceived Rosa as an “outsider who doesn’t belong in AEW” and “someone who wanted to steal Britt’s shine”, so Baker would target Rosa every week burying her in promos and even mocked Rosa’s iconic face paint by painting her own face like Rosa’s. Their feud had their first match at Spring Break 2021 that forever became overshadowed by their most memorable match ever: The Lights Out Match On The 3/17/2021 episode of Dynamite where even though Rosa won the match, but she was mostly overshadowed by her hated archenemy Britt Baker who many back then wanted win The AEW Women’s Title which led to a very polarizing and underwhelming title run for Britt Baker as she openly and verbally buried her opponents on the mic, she didn’t elevate anyone, and plus most of her matches were very forgettable with the exception of Kris Statlander at All Out III and Red Velvet on Rampage.
Note: Many people need to realize that like any other industry, the professional wrestling industry is no different because it’s filled with carnies, problematic people, backstage politicians, and arrogant, egotistical, and self-serving people from the indie scene, Impact, WWE, and AEW. Even some of the most well known wrestlers past and present are known for having big egos and being big time backstage political players like 90s HBK, HH from the 1980s - mid 2000s, Goldberg, Jericho, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, John Cena, Randy Orton, Nash, Hall, CM Punk, Roman Reigns, and even Cody Rhodes.
The Conclusion - All this current toxic backstage issues in AEW right now are very much reminiscent of 2000 WCW where egos clashed, the inmates ran the asylum, and older guys refusing to put over the young guys because they didn’t wanna lose their spot on the card.
