Jimmy Jacobs Gives His Thoughts On CM Punk's Issues With AEW

CM Punk hasn't been seen in AEW since the infamous All Out media scrum back in September, and there have been plenty of murky reports about his contract status ever since. That doesn't mean, however, that his name is erased from the world of professional wrestling forever. Far from it, in fact. Talent come and go; at any time, anything can happen. Former WWE writer and producer Jimmy Jacobs can attest to that.

Jacobs and Punk both have been in the wrestling game for a while, and overlapped briefly during their time in Ring of Honor. But they met a handful of years before that, though, early impressions left plenty to be desired. "He was not kind to me very early on," Jacobs told Conrad Thompson on "The Insiders" podcast. "He thought I was an idiot, and probably I was." At the time, Jacobs was just 16 years old, and he got the sense that Punk didn't think he belonged in the wrestling business. That all changed in 2003 when Jacobs was working his backside off alongside Alex Shelley.

"It was Punk who approached me about giving him a tape to give to Gabe," he continued. "So if it weren't for Punk, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now." Most of all, he looked out for those he respected. "Punk was loyal to the people around him and who he saw worked hard." As for the performer himself, Jacobs could always see that star in him. "Punk's a great performer, he's a great promo," he declared. "He has a real 'it' factor, and he always did. His success is no accident." But today, we are once again living in a pro wrestling world without him.

"It's unfortunate to see how the stuff in AEW went down," Jacobs admitted. "As a performer, he's an asset."