Freddie Prinze Jr. Addresses AEW's Lack Of Leadership And Backstage Morale

On Sunday night, newly-crowned AEW World Champion CM Punk stunned the pro wrestling world after sounding off following the All Out pay-per-view. During the post-show media scrum, Punk bashed his former friend Colt Cabana, furthered his real-life feud with "Hangman" Adam Page, and reportedly got into a physical altercation with AEW EVPs Kenny Omega and Matt and Nick Jackson of The Young Bucks alongside his friend Ace Steel. Remarkably, Punk's comments occurred while he was sitting next to AEW CEO Tony Khan, leading former WWE writer Freddie Prinze Jr. to suggest there's a big problem behind the curtain. 

"It's bad there, man. There's no leadership," Prinze Jr. said on the "Wrestling with Freddie" podcast. "He was saying stuff in front of his boss that was making Tony cringe and become this shrinking violet. That's his boss. So there is no leadership backstage. Things have to be a mess back there."

After suggesting that AEW needed to introduce a "wrestlers' court," something that used to be a regular occurrence behind the scenes in WWE to keep talent in check, Prinze Jr. noted that he has a couple of friends working for AEW who indicated to him that "it sucks" backstage, before proposing that the organization needs someone above the EVPs to keep things in order. Prinze Jr. also said that it was bad for Punk to bury his boss the way he did and added that, had he been in Khan's position, he would have shown Punk that he was in charge by ending the scrum before laying down an ultimatum: play ball or be fired. 

If you use quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling With Freddie" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.