During an interview with Barstool Rasslin’, AEW star Britt Baker was asked to share her thoughts on the media scrum after All Out 2022, where CM Punk’s infamous tirade on Colt Cabana, Hangman Page, and the The Elite precipitated a backstage fight that led to suspensions, an investigation, legal turmoil, and Punk’s indefinite absence from AEW television.
Baker never said Punk’s name, but it’s very clear from her response that she thinks his behavior was selfish and inappropriate:
“That scrum was heartbreaking. And it was embarrassing and it was disappointing because, it just felt like…very much a disaster.”
“That was definitely a time in AEW where I was like, man this sucks.”
“I think the scrums are really cool because it’s after a pay-per-view, and you get to speak to these wrestlers, and there is a lot of emotion. They get to talk to you about what’s going on in the ring, what they’re feeling, their storyline. And in a way it kind of humanizes these very larger than life wrestlers that you just saw wrestle for 30 minutes in the ring or whatever.”
“But that time needs to be used proactively and responsibly. If I sit here and do nothing but tell you everybody I hate, everything that I’m mad at, or let’s go through all the Twitter lies about me and debunk them all, that’s not proactive, and that would be selfish of me to use your time and the world’s time like that.”
“I would rather, let’s put over this frickin’ pay-per-view…Is that other stuff there? Of course. Are there people here I don’t like? Of course. Are there things I don’t like? Of course. But I’m still a soldier for AEW, and I’m on the front lines. I’m fighting for my team and I’m gonna put it over.”
Punk spent a lot of time in that media scrum denouncing rumors that he had anything to do with Cabana’s absence from AEW television. Once again without saying Punk’s name, Baker said she understands how false rumors make wrestlers feel angry or upset, but it has to be handled differently:
“When you’re just reading these random rumors about you, that people swear up and down are true, but they’re not true, it breathes venom inside you, that all you want to do is just go out there and burn it all down. But the best thing but the hardest thing you can do is take the high road. And very rarely do you regret taking the high road. It sucks, there’s a lot of times I don’t want to do it either, and there’s times where I haven’t. But it’s definitely my advice for everybody in this business. Please, try to take the high road.”
“We can’t go back in time, so let’s move forward and be smart…Don’t just spit out every random, stupid lie, rumor that you’ve heard of. Let’s really be smart now and let’s try to prevent this shit from happening again.”
Baker goes on to defend the importance of Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson to the foundation of AEW:
“I think probably everybody involved was somehow wrongly characterized…What I can say is AEW is still a special place. And maybe that was a little wrinkle in the fabric, but we ironed it out and we’re still a super strong company, a super strong family.”
“I’m really happy and I’m really proud of this company I work for. I am super thankful for Jericho, Cody, Moxley, Kenny, Matt and Nick for starting this awesome frickin’ thing.”
“You forget, when we first started AEW, Matt and Nick and Kenny wore shirts that said ‘Let’s change the world.’ And I think sometimes people need to remember that. That was truly their goal, is to change the world, to change professional wrestling, and make it exciting and give people something that they can really look forward to.”
“And those guys have all helped so many people in the world of professional wrestling and we won’t even hear a fraction of it, but they have really helped this sport in a way that a lot of people will never understand. And I’m very thankful for them, and I know a lot of this locker room is too.”
One of the more interesting aspects underlying Baker’s response is that Punk put her over multiple times on AEW television. She was the very first person he mentioned when he debuted on Rampage and spoke into an AEW mic for the first time. During his feud with MJF, Punk said Max was replaced as one of the four pillars of AEW by Baker. In other words, her perspective is not coming from someone who is an enemy of Punk’s.
Baker is correct when she says it’s not smart for wrestlers to publicly bury each other for real and air their dirty laundry for everyone to see. On the other hand, it would be a complete waste of everyone’s time if the wrestlers remain in kayfabe and just do the company rah rah thing in these media scrums, because the media shouldn’t be there to conduct kayfabe interviews.
Punk has often said that he speaks without a filter, and that was indeed the case during the post All Out 2022 media scrum. CM didn’t stick to the company line during his tirade, even though AEW President Tony Khan was right there bizarrely nodding along with many of Punk’s points.
What do you think about Britt Baker’s reaction to the All Out 2022 media scrum disaster, Cagesiders?
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