Jon Moxley Addresses CM Punk Calling Him Out Over AEW World Title Unification Match

Jon Moxley has addressed the latest controversy surrounding himself and CM Punk. 

Punk called out Moxley along with Dave Meltzer, All Elite Wrestling, and Chris Jericho in a since-deleted Instagram post last week. During his explosive rant, Punk alleged that Moxley refused to lose to him in their AEW World Title unification match on the August 24, 2022 edition of AEW Dynamite and that he worked the match without being cleared to wrestle, having only just recovered from a broken foot.

Punk also noted that he didn't like the plan to lose to Moxley on Dynamite and win the title at All Out - an idea that Moxley likened to Rocky III. 

Speaking to his wife Renee Paquette on The Sessions, Moxley addressed Punk's comments and noted if anything he was the one bending over backwards to help AEW since he wasn't under contract with the promotion at the time. 

"It's f*****g annoying. Just because somebody said some stupid s**t on social media, that's not 'news'. But it is. It ends up being a thing. I don't want to get dragged into this dumb s**t. I could f*****g unload on a lot of f*****g people right now. And when I start getting dragged into this s**t, it tempts me to do that, but I'm not gonna sink to that f*****g level. But I will say this, the entire summer, I was not under contract. No contract. Free agent. I was at SummerSlam weekend, f*****g wrestling Desperado and s**t, the day of SummerSlam...I could have walked into SummerSlam that night with the AEW f*****g belt, if I had been so inclined. Nobody knew that, 'cause I don't put my s**t out there in the world and let everybody know every f*****g thing about my business," Moxley began.

"I was not under contract. The reason being, if you're curious, c'ause I got out of rehab and my contract was coming up, they extended it for the time that I missed - cool. I'm glad they did actually, 'cause I didn't wanna feel like I owed them anything, you know?"

Moxley continued: 

"The night f*****g what's-his-d**k's talking about...the night he came back and was hopping around on one foot...so we're talking later and stuff. Now keep in mind, at this time - this is my whole point - I basically don't work there, for all intents and purposes. I don't even work here. Tony is not my boss. I don't even have to be in this room. I don't have to do s**t. So even me being in this room and offering and agreeing to a storyline that puts you over at the pay-per-view, if anything, I'm bending over backwards for Tony and for this dude and for the company and everybody. I didn't have to. I didn't have to do s**t. If anything, I was bending over backwards. So…that's it."

Moxley later added that he's "never seen so much bulls**t drama in one place" in his entire life.

"I don't think I've ever said anything even remotely negative about AEW but I will say this. As an observer it seems like I spent eight years on the indies, spent a couple of years in WWE developmental, spent like eight years in WWE, I've never seen so much bulls**t drama in one place in my entire f*****g life. I hate to say that. I don't know if it's because of the age of social media and s**t gets blown out of proportion," the former AEW World Champion stated.

Moxley would defeat Punk in a three-minute squash on August 24 to unify the Interim and AEW World Title. Punk then regained the AEW World Championship at All Out on September 4. 

Moxley originally signed with All Elite Wrestling in 2019 and his deal expired in mid-July 2022, while he was Interim AEW World Champion. The Blackpool Combat Club member continued to work for the promotion on a handshake deal until he signed a five-year extension around the All Out pay-per-view.

Moxley has since established himself as one of the locker-room leaders along with Bryan Danielson and Chris Jericho. CM Punk, meanwhile, is away from AEW with a torn triceps. It is unknown if he is still suspended following his and Ace Steel's backstage fight with The Elite following All Out. 

Reports have noted that Punk was open to coming back to AEW but people within the promotion have "lost confidence" about a return since the 44-year-old's Instagram post.