It's only been three years since, AEW All Out 2022, but it's already one of the most historic wrestling pay-per-views of the last decade not because of anything that actually happened on the show itself, but because of what happened immediately afterward. Then-AEW World Champion CM Punk appeared at the post-show media scrum to answer questions, but the journalists and content creators in the NOW Arena that night had no idea that what they were about to hear come out of Punk's mouth would change the course of both AEW and the wider wrestling world.
Following his victory over Jon Moxley, Punk addressed the rumors that he had Scott "Colt Cabana" Colton fired after he debut for the company in 2021, going off onthe wrestling media,Cabana,"Hangman" Adam Page, and AEW EVPs Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. This verbal onslaught would prompt The Elite to confront Punk about his comments in his locker room after the press conference, leading to a brawl breaking out between The Elite, Punk, and Punk's close friend Ace Steel, who was an agent for AEW at the time. News about the fight spread like wildfire, and the name "Brawl Out"quickly stuck. Everyone involved in the brawl was suspended, with Ace Steel eventually being let go, but details about what actually happened have remained murky due to no one really being allowed to talk about it.
What we can talk about is an alternate universe where none of this happened, because there's never been a bigger "What If?" moment in AEW than "Brawl Out." For context, we are doing this under the assumption that Punk never tore his triceps in the match with Moxley both because it's more interesting and because it seems unlikely that things would've gotten as bad as they did without the injury in play. Three years later, what would the wrestling world look like today if "Brawl Out" never happened?
Due to the infamous aftermath, some people forget that All Out 2022 had one of the most exciting endins to an AEW pay-per-view up until that point,as MJF made his return to the company. MJF had been gone from AEW for three months following his shoot promo on the June 1 episode of "AEW Dynamite," where he took many shots at company President Tony Khan, and even demanded that he be fired before calling Khan "a f**king mark."At AllOut, MJF strolled out after Punk had defeated Moxley to a thunderous ovation, with the "Salt of the Earth" having already used his devil disguise to win the Casino Ladder match for a shot at the AEW World Championship earlier that night. Punk and MJF's feud from earlier on in the year is still seen as one of the greatest stories AEW has ever told, and the idea of having that tale continue with the world title involved had people salivating.
Naturally, this would have led to AEW's next pay-per-view, Full Gear 2022, with the main event being CM Punk vs. MJF for the AEW World Championship. They would have had just over two months to build hype, and it probably would have been one of the most highly anticipated matches in company history, but one thing probably would have stayed consistent with what actually happened; MJF would have won the world title.
The big story following on from that match would have likely been the "bidding war of 2024," and would have likely been taken more seriously. This means that MJF likely wouldn't have turned babyface in the wake of Better Than You Bay Bay's formation in the lead up to All In London, meaning that the main event of AEW's first trip to Wembley probably wouldn't have been MJF vs. Adam Cole either. Punk could have acted as the top babyface in the company who was desperate to stop MJF from leaving AEW with the title, which could have all came to a head at Worlds End 2023 with Punk finally reclaiming the title, eradicating "The Devil" storyline from the end of 2023. MJF gets his record-setting reign, Punk gets to be the top guy, and AEW has another storyline for the ages in 2023.
CM Punk wasn't the only person to be punished in the wake of "Brawl Out" as The Elite were not only suspended, but much like Punk, they had the titles they had just won at All Out stripped from them. Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks defeated Hangman Adam Page and The Dark Order to become the first-ever AEW World Trios Champions, a set of championships that were effectively made for the company's EVPs, and weren't introduced sooner because Omega spent the first half of 2022 out injured. This of course means that if "Brawl Out" never happened, The Elite would have kept their titles, but where would they have gone from there?
In reality, The Elite returned from their suspension at Full Gear to face Death Triangle who had won the titles in their absence, kickstarting a best-of-seven series that stretched until the beginning of 2023. Had The Elite remained on television, that series might have still happened, but it could have either started sooner to allow each match to have more time to breathe, or the series could have still started at Full Gear and their first match would have had a lot more hype around it. Outside of that, there isn't much to suggest that anything would have been different for The Elite as they would have had their feud with the Blackpool Combat Club anyway, but one thing could have been very different.
Had Punk not said what he said at All Out, there still would have been tension between the two parties and things could have blown up at a later date. Because of this, The Elite could have genuinely left AEW in 2023. Fans often forget that Omega, The Bucks, and Hangman Page were all at the end of their deals in 2023 and that they had very real discussions about potentially testing the waters in WWE. The only reason they didn't leave is because they wanted to do things as a group and they couldn't come to an agreement, so they stayed put as it was the safest option. If Punk stayed in AEW and the company geared more to what his vision of what wrestling should be instead of The Elite's, it's very possible that everyone who played a hand in founding AEW could be working for WWE right now.
The biggest dream match in AEW history that will likely remain just that. When CM Punk arrived in AEW back in August 2021, fans around the world politely asked "When is Punk going to wrestle KennyOmega?" "When is Punk going to wrestle The Young Bucks?" "When is Punk going to team up with FTR and face The Elite?" The answer to all of those questions could have been in 2023.
Let's assume that The Elite drop the AEW World Trios Championships in early 2023 (and didn't leave midway through the year), Punk is trying to find a way back to MJF, and FTR (who were also rumored to leave AEW at the end of 2022) returned to the company and were still very much the focal point of the tag team division, a feud between Punk, FTR, and The Elite would have been so easy to book, especially heading into the summer.
After The Elite wrapped up their feud with the Blackpool Combat Club, their direction heading into All In London was a bit all over the place, but one thing that did happen was FTR and The Young Bucks fought over the AEW Tag Team Championships. This would have left a very easy opening for Punk and Omega to have a singles program heading into Wembley Stadium, with the idea of the story that they have conflicting ideologies on how they want AEW to be, but they both want the same things; AEW to be successful, and to take the AEW World Championship away from MJF.
You could have had Punk vs. Omega and FTR vs. The Young Bucks at All In London, two of the biggest matches that AEW could have booked at the time on the biggest show of the year, and follow that up with CMFTR vs. The Elite one week later in Chicago at All Out 2023. WrestleDream could have seen a continuation of the feud before both Punk and Omega realize that time is running out on MJF's title run, leading to Omega challenging MJF at Full Gear and failing, Punk challenging MJF at Worlds End and winning, and that would set up even more stuff for 2024. Everyone tells you to never say never in wrestling, but we can all safely say that CMFTR vs. The Elite is never going to happen.
Just a quick sidenote, one of the funniest stories to come out of All Out 2022 was that Moxley's loss to Punk was supposed to be the start of an extended vacation for Jon Moxley. No one really knows how long he would have been gone for as he was in the midst of the best year of his career at that time, but he had stepped up to carry the company on his back throughout the summer while Punk was injured, and he deserved to have a break heading into the fall.
Of course, that never happened and Moxley had to step up yet again in Punk's absence and be the one to take back the AEW World Championship, while also carrying the company on his back through yet another difficult time. During the months between All Out and Full Gear, a few things happened with Moxley. His feud with Hangman Adam Page officially kicked off, and if he was on vacation, that feud would have not only commenced at the beginning of 2023, but the hatred from Page towards Moxley as he would have never have gotten the concussion that led to Page forgetting his own son's name.
Full Gear 2022 also saw the end of William Regal's time as a member of the Blackpool Combat Club as he turned on Moxley to help MJF become the AEW World Champion. Had Moxley been away from the company, Regal would have taken a different approach on leaving the group, perhaps costing either Bryan Danielson or Claudio Castagnoli a chance of winning the ROH World Championship then held by Chris Jericho.
Whether Punk and Moxley ever crossed paths in the same way again is up for debate, and if Punk had stayed with AEW long enough to see the Death Riders be born we could have seen something there. With that said, Moxley would have earned a well deserved rest if Punk and The Elite didn't have their infamous fight.
Through all of the "What If?" situations that we've given with Punk and what he would have done if "Brawl Out" didn't happen, the one thing that probably wouldn't have happened (at least not right away) is that he wouldn't have gone back to WWE.
Think about all of the moments that Punk has been involved in since returning to WWE. The initial shock at Survivor Series 2023, the feud with Drew McIntyre, being involved in John Cena's retirement tour, headlining night one of WrestleMania 41, winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, none of that happens if "Brawl Out" doesn't go down. Even the recent return of AJ Lee to WWE probably doesn't happen if Punk stays with AEW, and a return to wrestling for her would have actually been more likely in AEW than in WWE. On the AEW side, Punk's eventual confrontation with Jack Perry wouldn't have happened either, meaning that the "Brawl In" footage doesn't air, and AEW doesn't get critically panned by fans for the stunt.
Going back and watching the full clip of Punk from the All Out scrum, aside from the tirade about Colt Cabana sharing a bank account with his mother, you can genuinely see that Punk cared about being in AEW. He cared about helping the company grow, that's effectively the whole reason why he was so upset because he felt The Elite were jeopardizing the company's growth. Punk knew, and probably still knows now, that AEW existing is important for the wrestling business as a whole and wanted to help AEW, meaning that for as much tension as there was backstage in AEW at the time, Punk would have easily kept everything bottled up, stayed with AEW, and eventually everything would have been handled more professionally.
If Punk achieved everything he wanted to in AEW, there is every chance he would have eventually joined WWE, and an eventual confrontation with The Elite could have easily happened as well, but "Brawl Out" was the point of no return where no matter how much he cared about AEW, Punk simply couldn't stay in the company any longer. CM Punk and AEW seemed like the stuff that dreams were made of, but thanks to "Brawl Out," all that could have been with Punk and AEW will remain a dream for fans around the world.
