WWE veteran accuses The Young Bucks of forcing CM Punk out of AEW with "backstage politics"
WWE veteran Dutch Mantell has given his thoughts on a recent controversy surrounding CM Punk in AEW. This was about how the Young Bucks allegedly conspired with the promotion's Chief Legal Officer, Megha Parekh, to get rid of the world champion.
Punk was fired from the promotion almost a week ago. This was following his backstage altercation with Jack Perry just right before his match at All In.
On the Story Time with Dutch Mantell podcast, the veteran gave his take on whether he thought that there was a possibility that the Young Bucks conspired to help provide evidence to get rid of Punk.
"Well, I don't know. But I know backstage politics, and they will all get together, I've seen it in other places. They will all team up on this one guy or these two guys, and they'll put all this stuff out, put it out to the owner personally, and to get this guy, either his power cut down or for him to be gone," said Mantell.
The veteran then mentioned that despite this, he believed that CM Punk knew this was bound to happen and had a backup plan: try to get back to WWE.
"And I think that's what CM Punk is running into, but he's not stupid, he knew what they were trying to do, and... like I said, he didn't do it; he tried to get fired without knowing what his next move was. I think his next move would be WWE. Well, I'm not sure of it, but it could be... I think he wanted to get fired. Again, this is my opinion," Mantell added. (4:03-4:58)
Allegedly, The Young Bucks were only willing to talk to CM Punk on one condition
Almost a week ago, there were reports that Tony Khan and AEW made one last attempt to reconcile CM Punk and The Elite. However, this never happened, as the side of The Elite allegedly backed out.
In a recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was revealed that the Young Bucks allegedly gave Punk an ultimatum to avoid any issues for six months. Only then were they willing to talk to him.
"According to one person very close to the situation, The Young Bucks had said if six months went by without CM Punk having any issues, they would have been willing to sit down and work with him."
Following all that's happened, The Elite and the Straight Edge Superstar never got the chance to bury the hatchet, and that may not be the case following the latter's firing.
What are your thoughts on the controversy behind CM Punk's firing? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit Story Time with Dutch Mantell and give Sportskeeda a H/T for transcription when using quotes from the first half of this article.