Ace Steel Comments On AEW Brawl Out & CM Punk's WWE Return

Ace Steel worked in AEW as a producer until his release in September, his departure coming shortly after the firing of CM Punk. The pair were both involved in Punk's earlier backstage altercation at All Out 2022, after which Punk was suspended, and Steel was also fired from the company until he briefly returned earlier this year. Steel opened up on his experience working with AEW in an appearance on "Wrestling with Rip Rogers." 

"Well, I worked with a lot of great people, some great, some not so much," he said before explaining his stance on the All Out altercation. "Family still exists in this business, there are things none of us can say, and none of us will, you know, I think my wife's the only one who could probably tell the story since she was there. Maybe someday." 

Ace Steel assured that both he and Punk emerged from the situation just fine," citing their legal representation from lawyer Stephen P. New. However, regarding the "Brawl Out" incident, he said not to "f*** with family." CM Punk began his training with the Steel Dominion wrestling school, and sat under the learning tree of Ace Steel, in 1999. They also worked together in Ring of Honor before Punk's first spell with WWE. 

The "Second City Saint" returned to WWE at Survivor Series: WarGames last month, ending a nine-year absence from the promotion, to which Ace Steel shared immense pride. 

"I'm very proud of my number one student that I've ever coached in the world for heading back to show the world who the f*** he is... The reason people hate him or whatever is he's not about the bulls***, and the guy doesn't take s***, and he doesn't take it lightly. And when you've had enough s***, you either explode, or you take care of business yourself, and you defend yourself."

The "Brawl Out" altercation occurred after CM Punk took aim at AEW EVPs Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks at the All Out 2022 post-show press conference. There are conflicting accounts as to how the situation played out in its entirety, but it's alleged that Omega and the Bucks confronted Punk in his locker room following his comments. In the room with Punk was Ace Steel and his wife, Lucy Guy, as he'd previously touched on. It's supposed that those who were AEW employees at the time are legally forbidden from detailing the actual happenings, but Steel joked it might air on a future docu-series. 

"You might hear something; I'm sure it's gonna be on f****** Dark Side of the Ring someday; I laughed at the time, going, 'All this s***'s gonna be on Dark Side of the Ring someday,' you know, someone's going to want to know."

The backstage incident spurred several reports documenting different aspects after the fact, some of which — although unspecified — Ace Steel said were untrue. He noted that he had to privatize his X (formerly Twitter) account following the backlash, and opined that no one considered his mental health when they were putting stories out. 

"No one gave a s*** about my mental health when that went on," he said before asking why his departure deserved so much attention, "I used to work for AT&T as a manager. For 10 years, I was a high-end manager of fiber splicers. No one knows why I left that position... That's not reported out there; no one knows why you left this place to go work at this place. Why does that f****** matter?"

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Wrestling with Rip Rogers" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.