Billy Gunn says some veterans “aren’t going to put up with that shit” when asked about CM Punk’s backstage fight with the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega after AEW All Out 2022.
Speaking to Kenny McIntosh on Inside The Ropes, Gunn, who coaches in AEW, said he was not there for the incident.
“I wasn’t around for that. I knew the incident that happened, and it was what it was. They just have to realize that sometimes, there are certain veterans that aren’t going to put up with that shit, no matter what. If you’re a young buckaroo and you want to poke the bear, get ready to get bit. I think that’s what happened. I don’t know the whole details; that’s between them,” Gunn said.
He said he did not pay attention to the media coverage of the incident.
Asked how problems between wrestlers were handled when he was in WWE, Gunn said, “Vince (McMahon) had things under control really good. I don’t have to like you to work with you. I just have to do business. 99.9% of the guys always do that. There will be a spat every now and then where you just pull them into a room, shut the door, and you don’t do it in public or in front of the boys. If you have a problem, we fix it now, so that when you walk out the door, we don’t have a problem anymore. That’s how grown-ass people deal with shit. Nowadays, we don’t, and that’s sad.”
(h/t Fightful for the transcription)
Punk won the AEW World Championship from Jon Moxley at All Out on September 4, 2022. At the post-show media scrum, he criticized Hangman Page, Colt Cabana and AEW’s executive vice presidents, the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. A backstage fight followed involving Punk, Ace Steel, the Bucks and Omega. AEW suspended those involved, and Punk was stripped of the title.
Punk returned to AEW in June 2023 and was fired with cause in September 2023 after a backstage altercation with Jack Perry at All In in London. He returned to WWE at Survivor Series that November.
Gunn is a WWE Hall of Famer as a member of D-Generation X.
