On the August 17 episode of AEW Dynamite, CM Punk made his first comment since he announced he would be stepping away due to injury.
Punk not only addressed AEW Interim World Champion Jon Moxley, he also called out Hangman Page, who he defeated at AEW Double or Nothing to win the AEW World Title. Punk offered Page his rematch and sat in the middle of the ring waiting for him, but Page didn't show up. Punk said it was "coward shit."
Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Tony Khan commented on Punk's call out.
"It's unresolved anger, I think, from the world title match at Double or Nothing and we had not really tied up all those issues. CM Punk made one appearance to wrestle after Double or Nothing and it was immediately after that he got injured and was forced to step away. There was clearly some stuff that never got resolved at Double or Nothing. Then, immediately, jumped into somebody who has challenged him, in not a type of match we've ever had in AEW before. We've had interim championships established, but we've never had an Interim World Champion or an Undisputed World Championship match like this," said Khan before promoting the AEW World Title Unification match between Punk and Moxley for the August 24 episode of AEW Dynamite.
According to multiple reports, Punk calling out Hangman was not planned.
Fightful Select reported, "there was word that Punk and Hangman Page didn't see eye to eye on some promo material that emerged on an episode of Dynamite that built their match. Fightful has been told that it was to the point that CM Punk met with AEW higher ups about the context of Hangman Page's promo."
Hangman Page has not directly commented on the situation, though Punk being in the ring and calling him out was referenced in a backstage bit on Being The Elite.
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