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AEW's decision to dismiss former world champion CM Punk caught many people off guard. However, one WWE veteran claims the move was necessary given The Second City Saint's string of controversial affairs in the promotion.
Speaking on Sportskeeda Wrestling's SmackTalk, wrestling legend Dutch Mantell discussed CM Punk's AEW contract termination and how it stemmed from a backstage incident at the recent All In pay-per-view. The veteran manager noted that decades ago, these sorts of situations would be handled behind the scenes instead of in front of the public:
“If you got the cr*p beat out of you, it’s over. Okay, the guy won, and nobody got onto you about it. It just -- they may talk individually about it to each other.” [01:09 - 01:21]
Mantell then continued, adding that Punk's contract termination was "necessary":
“But, was a firing necessary? I think so.” [01:22 - 01:25]
It is unknown what the future holds for The Voice of the Voiceless in the pro wrestling world, but some reports have linked him with a move to WWE.
Dutch Mantell questions how AEW boss Tony Khan would have handled "legitimate tough guys" of past generations
Circling back to his point about wrestlers handling their issues backstage by fighting it out back in the day, Dutch Mantell questioned how AEW President Tony Khan would have dealt with some of the most notoriously tough stars of yesteryear:
“How would Tony Khan have, say, thirty years ago, how would he handle the backstage with guys we had then? Bruiser [Brody] and [Stan] Hansen and Abdullah [the Butcher] and all those guys. Even Dick Slater and all those guys who were – and Paul Orndorff – who were legitimately tough guys in a fight. I don’t know how he would have handled it." [02:44 - 03:15]
While an interesting question to pose, those days of frequent backstage brawls are long gone — or at least for the most part.
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