There are few things wrestling fans love to talk about more than backstage fights and alleged real life bad blood between performers. Someone overhearing a testy exchange between two lower card guys could dominate Twitter discourse for an entire day. Given that, it’s not surprising the backstage altercation at AEW All Out in 2022 that involved CM Punk, Ace Steel, The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega is still being talked about, but what is surprising is that Chris Jericho decided to talk about it in a very public way on Christmas morning with a lawyer still involved in the case.
It all started after Stephen P New appeared on Rip Rogers’ podcast and said the only person involved in the so-called Brawl Out that is legally allowed to talk about what happened is Steel’s wife Lucy. He said she’s not talking but could someday. The quote was picked up and widely covered in the wrestling media. On Christmas Eve, Chris Jericho responded to one of the stories and said he didn’t sign an NDA. New responded and said it’s in the employee handbook but if he has a different version, they can discuss. And that’s when Jericho went from the opening bell to the Liontamer real quick in an early morning tweet that has since gone viral…
Hey @StephenPNew- I don’t adhere to an employee handbook and have NEVER had one in 4 years of working for @aew. Ive also never signed an NDA in my life ….ever. So stop trying to be a bully and making egotistical fantasy brags for your clients, and start doing some research before you make blanket statements about your buddies. Because I saw EVERYTHING that night…including how Lucy (and her husband and best buddy) acted and what really went down…and since I was in the room and watching her and everybody else the whole time..I know exactly what really happened. And considering you weren’t there and I was …maybe you should shut your mark ass up. Because what really went down was disgusting. ….
The immediate response from many fans on Twitter was basically mass confusion. Prior to his message, the general consensus was Chris Jericho was talking to the media when the alleged brawl happened. His tweet seemed to imply he was there. In addition, many fans were confused why he was even commenting on the story when AEW and Tony Khan have made it clear they wanted to move past the incident, especially with CM Punk now in WWE and some of the legal fallout not entirely cleared up.
Unfortunately, it’s yet another recent example of AEW making bigger headlines for things that happened outside the ring than in it. The promotion was absolutely rolling in mid-2022, and with CM Punk joining MJF and other established stars, it seemed like the upstart company could turn into WWE’s toughest competitor since WCW. But backstage clashes between CM Punk and several wrestlers led to him going off in a vicious media interview, which led to the aforementioned confrontation, which led to AEW splitting its talent into multiple shows, which led to those problems bubbling back up at a PPV and Punk getting fired. His exit, pus lackluster creative, combined with more WWE signings and a creative resurgence, has created a perception that AEW is falling further behind, a notion the ratings and ticket sales seem to support.
It’s unclear whether anything will come of this, but if nothing else, it’s a sign of just how many hard feelings still linger from what happened with CM Punk in AEW. Many wrestlers very obviously remain bitter about his tenure and I think also what could have been.
