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AEW President Tony Khan turned the wrestling world on its head once again this past week when he decided to air the footage of CM Punk's infamous backstage altercation with Jack Perry at last year's All In pay-per-view. WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley, like many of his colleagues, agrees it wasn't a good idea.
The Young Bucks presented the footage on the latest episode of AEW Dynamite and tied it into their feud with FTR, who are known friends of Punk. The two tag teams will meet in the ring at the Dynasty pay-per-view on April 21, 2024, with the vacant AEW World Tag Team Championship on the line.
The Bucks also seemingly used the segment to add another layer to the potential return of Jack Perry, who has been competing in NJPW over the past few months. However, D-Von Dudley seems to think that Tony Khan shouldn't have aired the footage and should instead move on from the incident like CM Punk had.
"I'm not in AEW, so I don't really know what's going on there, but I don't think it should have been appropriate to air something like that, even though it happened months ago.... that's something that you just don't air out. That's your dirty laundry. You keep that to yourself. The problem was handled. Punk moved on, now it's time for AEW to move on. Jack Perry is somewhere in Japan and let's just leave it like that," D-Von said on Gabby AF. [4:28 - 5:01]
D-Von further expressed his belief that Tony Khan revealed the footage for a ratings pop.
"'Oh, well, we need to expose this because Punk needs to be exposed.' No, you did it for a cheap rating. I'm sorry. I'm not the only one that feels that way. There's a lot of AEW hardcore fans that feel the same way," stated Dudley. [5:10 - 5:25]
You can watch his comments in the video below:
Tony Khan's decision may have helped one AEW star
While many were upset about Tony Khan's decision to roll out the backstage footage from All In 2023, doing so may have actually accomplished what the All Elite Wrestling chief intended it to.
Firstly, this week's AEW Dynamite received a boost in the ratings, especially in the key 18-49 demographic. And while many of the company's fans are paying more attention to the upcoming match between The Young Bucks and FTR, Jack Perry himself is getting some pretty big reactions.
The former Jungle Boy made his way into the Wintrust Arena in CM Punk's hometown of Chicago last night at NJPW Windy City Riot. Perry, who has been playing up his persona as a scapegoat after being suspended, leaned into the controversy in his match against Shota Umino.
Perry made his entrance draped in Chicago's flag and also wore a jacket emblazoned with the infamous words that led to his altercation with CM Punk at All In 2023, "Cry me a river."
The Chicago fans took the bait, and the arena echoed with cheers, boos, chants, and songs throughout Perry's match. While it's unclear just how big a part the footage played in generating the reactions to Jack Perry last night, it's clear that Tony Khan's decision has increased his notoriety, and it will be up to him to capitalize on it.
When using the quote from the first half of this article, please credit Gabby AF and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.
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