Speculation On Possible Backstage Heat On CM Punk – CM Punk was known to be hard to work with in WWE especially at the end when he was burnt out, but he also had supporters. It appears this is also the case now that he’s in AEW.
During Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite, a confrontation between Punk and “Hangman” Adam Page took place with them going back and forth to further hype their Double Or Nothing match this Sunday. Punk talked about respecting Page and how beating him for the title was just business and not personal. Page came at it from a different angle talking about defending AEW from Punk. It ended with Page punching Punk.
On today’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez broke down the segment. Page’s promo alluded to there being some heat on Punk from some people in AEW. Meltzer said the promo segment reminded him of Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels in 1997 as the two stars had legitimate real-life heat.
“This was to me almost like and I’m not saying it was as good as this, but to me, it reminded me of when Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels in 1997 did a face-to-face, it was probably designed like this, ‘the more you know, the more it meant.’ When Bret and Shawn did that stuff, I knew everything was going on…backstage. I remember watching this going like, ‘holy sh**.’ It’s not like they’re shooting, but there’s a level of reality to this that the people watching on television do not know. This had the same vibe to it.”
Meltzer noted there’s not a clear babyface or a heel in the feud as both got cheered during their entrances while booed while speaking. He thought it was a “very intense unique deal.”
Alvarez recapped Page’s promo and said, “I mean I didn’t write it down, but I mean he essentially said that this CM Punk that’s a nice guy out here on television and a new CM Punk allegedly, he’s a piece of sh** backstage. That’s essentially what he said…. Page also made the comment that he wasn’t going to beat your a** this weekend for myself or this championship, but I’m going to beat your a** for this locker room.”
Meltzer chimed in by stating that was a really interesting statement and Bryan agreed. Meltzer thinks the goal of the feud was to bring out animosity with the idea that to Page it’s personal to Punk he’s just looking for the championship and he has no animosity towards Page.
