7 months ago
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Last week on "AEW Dynamite," the promotion played security footage of a physical confrontation between CM Punk and Jack Perry at AEW All In, causing a great deal of debate among wrestling pundits and fans. To offer some added context for the footage, Wrestling Inc. reached out to Patryk Wezowski, founder of the Center for Body Language, who provided his expert analysis of the altercation.
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As the two can be seen first squaring up with one another, Wezowski said that it's clear the situation is immediately tense, comparing their body language to that of two roosters preparing to fight. Perry tilts his head at Punk and strokes one of his hands through his hair — motions that Wezowski refers to as both provocative and patronizing. At that point, Punk looks around, seemingly contemplating how he will react to the unfolding situation. Things continue to grow in intensity from there, with Punk making an aggressive pointing gesture while Perry puts his hand on his chin, which Wezowski sees as continued patronizing.
"The up-down head movements of Jack indicate he is making his provocation even stronger," Wezowski said. "Jack going through his hair again with both hands, massaging his hair, which ... very likely [has] to do something with the context/provocation. It seems Jack is ridiculing [Punk] and knows [Punk] cannot take it. Jack saw his provocation worked half a minute before because he saw [Punk's] angry reaction, so he keeps doing it more, and more pronounced."
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Wezowski Breaks Down The Footage
Etsuo Hara/Getty Images
Things soon get physical from there, with the video showing Punk shoving Perry and putting his hand in his face. While that is happening, Perry can be seen continuing to run his hands through his hair rather than raising them in defense, which Wezowski believes served as a continued provocation to Punk. The conflict was then broken up by surrounding AEW performers and producers before it became a full-blown fight.
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"Jack is the one who is more 'aggressive' in this situation — verbally aggressive — provoking [Punk]," Wezowski continued, analyzing the entirety of the footage. "What likely triggered [Punk] getting fired is the staff being totally freaked out by the situation. ... Some of the staff [showed] a lot of fear, and likely several of them complained. In such situations, the company has to publicly give a 'solution' or 'resolution.'"
Wezowski stated that firing an individual is often the easiest way to solve matters. The body language analyst believes that Punk was a "scapegoat" in the situation, with the company firing the performer to avoid potential financial fallout. Wezowski doesn't feel Punk was the only one responsible for the altercation despite taking all the blame.
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Punk was fired from AEW in the days after the incident, eventually making a return to WWE after nearly a decade. Meanwhile, Perry was suspended from AEW but has since reappeared in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, referring to himself as "The Scapegoat." Ahead of WWE WrestleMania 40, Punk discussed the situation publicly for the first time, with AEW CEO Tony Khan then deciding to air the footage on the April 10, 2024 edition of "Dynamite."
