CM Punk apparently felt an AEW star was like Ryback, but later became a "super fan" of his after their match
AEW star Brian Cage was CM Punk's last opponent on television in the Jacksonville-based promotion. Cage recently recalled the communication between the two stars during the match.
CM Punk was fired after his backstage altercation with Jack Perry at the All In PPV event. He competed in his final match against Samoa Joe and successfully defeated the Samoan Submission Machine at Wembley. However, his last televised match was on the August 27 episode of AEW Collision where Punk teamed up with Sting, Darby Allin, and Hook to take on Brian Cage, Jay White, Swerve Strickland, and Luchasaurus. Punk's team came out victorious after he successfully tapped out Brian Cage after hitting him with the G.T.S.
During his live signing for Whatnot, Brian Cage recalled wrestling the Best in the World on Collision and revealed that Punk initially thought that he would botch in the ring like Ryback.
"I took the last G.T.S. on AEW and I think, I’m just gonna go ahead and assume, the way we talked and structuring the match, I know he didn’t think he could give me the G.T.S. and I think he felt like I was gonna be — no heat or shade towards Ryback but I think he thought I was gonna be a jacked up — whatever. Obviously, he’s having flashbacks with his heat with Ryback. So I’m like, ‘Bro, no, don’t worry. I got you out there’ and after we had the match, he actually was a super fan of mine, was big on me, super high on me and I felt good. I was like, maybe I’ll get a little political rub backstage now, cool, and then he had to go into business for himself and get fired so, didn’t work out so well for me."
Eric Bischoff shares his thoughts on AEW airing CM Punk and Jack Perry footage
AEW was met with a lot of criticism after the company released the controversial footage of CM Punk and Jack Perry's altercation from the All In PPV event.
WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff also shared his reaction to the clip and believes that AEW has no hope under the leadership of Tony Khan. Here is what the veteran said on his 83 Weeks podcast.
"I mean, seriously, I'll normally get on here [and I'll try to point out from my perspective] a different approach for 'Dynamite' to take, perhaps a different approach for Tony Khan to take, but I'm at a loss. I don't think there's any hope. I honestly don't think there's any hope for AEW as long as Tony Khan's in charge," said Bischoff. [H/T: WrestlingINC]
It will be interesting to see if All Elite Wrestling mentions the footage again from All-In in the rivalry between FTR and the Young Bucks as the company has edited it out from the segment on their YouTube channel.