Signs continue to indicate CM Punk’s All Out media scrum tirade was premeditated

Really, it seemed pretty clear from the jump. CM Punk sat down at the post-All Out media scrum and immediately engaged Wrestling Inc’s Nick Hausman in a dialogue designed to bring up something Hausman did in the past with Scott “Colt Cabana” Colton. When Hausman revealed that he did not remain friends with Colton after their improv comedy days, Punk even joked that Hausman “blew [his] spot” — wrestling parlance for a move that doesn’t go as planned.

So the recent rumor that Punk planned to address his history with Colton, and issues with The Young Bucks & Hangman Page over what he saw as their role in reporting on Colton’s status at AEW after Punk joined the company, shouldn’t have been surprising. And now we’re hearing more things that point to Punk’s rant being premeditated.

The source of that rumor, Dave Meltzer, also revealed in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter that he’s heard Punk was telling people backstage two weeks ago the All Out press conference would be interesting. That would seem to indicate this was Punk’s plan from at least the time of his most recent return from injury.

Pro Wrestling Torch’s Wade Keller also noted on a recent VIP Audio show (h/t SEScoops) that AEW boss Tony Khan knew Punk had something to get off his chest at the presser:

“I was told that Tony knew something was coming from Punk, and he had some idea he had something he wanted to bring up... so, watching Punk, he had the agenda.”

What Punk’s motives were for publicly airing his grievances isn’t known. Did he feel he had no other recourse, or did he want to inflict maximum damage on his rivals? Also unknown is why TK allowed it. Did he think it would be less combative, or something he could turn into box office?

While we may never get answers to those questions, it seems more clear than ever that what we saw on YouTube in the early hours of Monday morning was almost exactly what CM Punk wanted us to.