CM Punk has suffered an injury during the All Out 2022 main event before the “melee” with The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega following his explosive press conference after All Out 2022, recent reports have claimed.
The former WWE Champion defeated Jon Moxley to become the AEW Champion for the second time in the main event of the show, before being interrupted by the returning MJF to close the show. This was meant to be the biggest talking point of the weekend due to MJF appearing for the first time in months, but it was quickly overshadowed by the AEW Champion’s post match antics which left many confused.
After going off on Colt Cabana and The Young Bucks during an expletive-laden tirade, CM Punk was greeted by The Elite backstage where a fight was said to have broken out. Dave Meltzer described it as a “melee” while Fightful Select reported that punches and steel chairs were thrown.
During the scuffle, Fightful also reported that CM Punk was injured when he allegedly punched Nick Jackson. They did clarify that they had only heard that from talent who were not there and were still working on proving that to their readers.
“We have heard the rumors of Punk sustaining an injury during the melee. The rumor has been echoed as “heard of” from people in the company, but we’ve not confirmed this.”
However, Dave Meltzer confirmed on Wrestling Observer Radio that CM Punk suffered the injury during his match with Jon Moxley. He injured his tricep during a suicide dive early on in the match. CM Punk is injured and will be out for 8 months and suffered a a similar injury to Cody Rhodes in WWE.
“He may have already undergone surgery, but either way he’s undergoing surgery, and it was not confirmed to me it was a torn tricep, but it was confirmed to me that it’s surgery for a torn muscle in the arm, so it’s triceps/biceps, maybe pec, but probably triceps. And that’s usually about an eight-month recovery period. So he was gonna be stripped of the title either way, so that move was pretty easy to do.”
“Punk’s out for eight months, or whatever it’s going to be, six months/eight months, whatever. If he’s not let go, and a lot of people don’t want him back.”
It is unknown if CM Punk will be fired by AEW but he has been suspense by the company, alongside all other parties involved in the fracas backstage.
CM Punk Was Injured During Match With Jon Moxley
While he may have injured himself fighting with The Young Bucks, the accident could have been caused during his match with Jon Moxley. During the bout he hit the then-AEW Champion with a suicide dive, landing awkwardly and clutching his elbow afterwards. He kept checking on it multiple times during the fight and looked visibly in pain multiple times last night. The punch could have exacerbated the injury but it seems it took place during the match.
This injuries’ severity is currently unknown but couldn’t have come at a worse time. This match was Punk’s second match back since breaking his foot after Double or Nothing 2022, an injury that kept him out for months until returning just weeks ago to face Jon Moxley.
CM Punk revealed he injured his foot during the stage dive during the CM Punk and FTR vs Max Caster & Gunn Club match following AEW Dynamite in June this year. Whilst he was challenged by Hiroshi Tanahashi after the match, the bout never took place and he was replaced by Jon Moxley.
About how he suffered his injury CM Punk said;
“I did the stage dive, what an idiot. I must have hit my foot on the top of the guard rail, but I didn’t feel it. You would think that sh*t would hurt, but people caught me, put me back down, I waited for FTR, it just didn’t feel right. I thought I just whacked it, but then I wrestled on it, blew a springboard, came off the top with a double axe, did all this sh*t.”
CM Punk looks set to wrestling MJF soon for the AEW Champion. Grand Slam looks to be the venue for CM Punk vs MJF although AEW has yet to confirm whether or not they will suspend him following his fight with the Young Bucks.
If CM Punk is injured then that match may not take place and he could be forced to vacate the AEW Championship.