Two-time WWE Hall of Famer Booker T believes too much was made of the All In 2023 backstage altercation that was merely boys getting into ‘it.’
The altercation between CM Punk and Jack Perry led to both men being suspended from AEW and Punk would be fired following a week-long investigation.
On a recent edition of his “Hall of Fame” podcast, Booker T discussed the fight, which he believes was not as bad as the punishment suggests. He said,
“I don’t think that was a fireable offense. I don’t know what has been going on behind the scenes with CM Punk and Tony Khan or anything … Because that did not seem like it was anything other than the boys getting into it.
“I’ve gotten into it with guys on the roster before, many, many times, and normally, after it happens, they would bring us in and say, ‘Guys, either we’re going to get along or somebody’s going to have to get along.’ One of the two. Then we’d shake hands and get back to work.”
Booker T added that AEW bringing Punk back from his first suspension but choosing to keep him off of Dynamite did not help Punk’s mental state in AEW. He said,
“I think that may have made the problem even worse because CM Punk was taken off the biggest show that they have and put on the Saturday show. Nobody was really watching, and then you expect that CM Punk was going to actually draw all the numbers for that show. If the number was bad, who was going to get the blame for it?”
Punk returned to WWE at Survivor Series 2023 last November. Jack Perry returned to AEW programming to aid The Elite at the recent AEW Dynasty pay-per-view event.
