CM Punk spoke on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani about appearing backstage at an episode of WWE RAW in April 2023 while still under contract with AEW. Punk confirmed that Vince McMahon made the decision for him to leave. Punk claimed that he showed up to meet with Bayley and a few others.
“There was no ulterior motive. I’m the old timer in the business, and there’s a show in town. I wasn’t trying to get a job or anything. I literally went. The few people that I saw before I got thrown out. I saw Bobby Lashley, Baron Corbin. Everybody was just so nice and kind. That’s the only reason I went, maybe for free catering. I expected it [being asked to leave]. I expected that to go. I wasn’t sure if Vince [McMahon] was there. I think he was doing stuff remote via Zoom because this is in between like, Vince is gone, now he’s back. And I didn’t know the politics of things. I literally just went to go say hi to Bayley, a few other people.”
Here was Punk’s response when asked if anyone from AEW got mad about him being backstage at RAW:
“I think the word betrayed was used, and I was just like, All right, man. As a company, you’re allowing guys to go on their television show to do things. I went backstage to say hi to friends. It’s two completely different things. If you’re going to be mad about it, okay.”
CM Punk says people backstage at AEW felt "betrayed" after CM Punk surfaced backstage at WWE Raw In Chicago. #themmahour
via @arielhelwani pic.twitter.com/uJPPYTSfkO
— Ango (@AngoPW) April 1, 2024
