Report: When Heat Between CM Punk & The Young Bucks Began Revealed

The atmosphere at the top of All Elite Wrestling is very much hostile at the moment after a fight broke out between AEW EVPs The Elite and AEW World Champion CM Punk following Punk's post-All Out press conference.

Punk accused the AEW EVPs of spreading lies during the press conference while he also took shots at Colt Cabana and Hangman Page. This prompted Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks to confront Punk in his locker room and a fight broke out, with producer Ace Steel becoming involved on the side of the AEW World Champion.

The fight followed months of animosity behind the scenes in AEW stemming from the perception that the promotion were not going to renew Colt Cabana's contract because of his issues with CM Punk, with some believing Punk was involved in the decision. Several talents, including The Young Bucks, went to bat for Cabana and he was ultimately re-signed, being moved to Ring Of Honor.

Heat between The Young Bucks and CM Punk actually stretches back to 2019, though, according to Steven Muehlhausen of DAZN.

"Sources: The animosity between CM Punk/The Young Bucks began around the first All Out in 2019 when they were trying to get Punk to come out of retirement. The Bucks felt slighted and were upset and it's been slowly bubbling since and ultimately led to what happened early Monday," Muehlhausen tweeted.

It was previously known that AEW tried to bring Punk out of retirement for one of their opening pay-per-views. Punk ultimately took a wait-and-see approach with the promotion, though, before eventually joining AEW in August of 2021.

Tony Khan previously told ESPN about the 2019 talks: "The fans really had an expectation. It wasn't anybody's fault. It wasn't like we were trying to give people the perception he was coming and it wasn't like he was trying to give the perception he was coming. But people just really wanted it to happen, because it's just something people really care about."