FTR Praise CM Punk's Conduct In AEW

It’s been a turbulent few months for CM Punk, from injury through title losses, and reports of disagreements with portions of the AEW locker room after Punk called out Hangman Page on Dynamite in an unscripted moment.

However, reports of CM Punk’s conduct are wide of the mark according to FTR, with the ‘Top Guys’ saying the following about Punk during an interview with DAZN’s Steven Muehlhausen:

"I think it's a lot of things from the past, mostly. I think there's a lot of old grudges,” said Cash Wheeler. “I think there's a lot of old biases. I think there's a lot of unresolved issues that are tainting how people react to seeing him now sometimes because he's been nothing but nice and helpful to anybody that wants it. I know there's underlying animosity between... once you're in wrestling for so long, and especially at the top of it, there's gonna be guys who don't get along because you're all vying for the same thing. You all want the same title. Egos are going to hit. It's inevitable. I know there's going to be old tension. But as far as how he is as a person now, he couldn't be more inviting. He couldn't be more company-oriented as far as what he's thinking and anything to the contrary; I really think it's uneducated to go off of it because there's only been one side (and) that's all been the negative stuff. He hasn't even really commented on it publicly because he's not going to give it that much time of day and that much notoriety because it doesn't deserve it. But I will say there's two sides to every story, and then somewhere in the middle, that's the truth. Somewhere in the middle is the truth.

“He's been nothing but a great person, a great mentor to a lot of guys there, somebody who wants the best for the company. That's why he's wanting the biggest houses, the biggest gates, and the most fans in the arena. I think it's just going to be one of those things where time will tell. Over time, you'll see that he has been well-meaning, he has been doing some good stuff, and like I said, anything to the contrary is, in my opinion, just people being childish and behaving like middle-schoolers.”

Dax Harwood continued, "And insecurity. I'm not gonna speak much on it because all that was perfectly put. But I'll tell you this, what's the better headline? 'CM Punk goes into business for himself and shoots on somebody?' Or, 'CM Punk invites Will Hobbs into his locker room and explains to him for 30 minutes what he could have done to better himself for the match earlier?' Or if the headline says, 'CM Punk goes to Danhausen, who came to him and asked for advice, watched his match, and CM Punk gave him notes of advice on what he could do to better the match next time?' Or if Brock Anderson says, 'Hey, do you mind watching our tag match tonight?' CM Punk sits there even though he's got a busy night and watches it and says, 'Hey, come into my locker room. Anybody else want to come into my locker room? Let's talk about this.' What's the better headline? The more juicy headline is the one of him going into business for himself.”