Billy Gunn Looks Back On Punk-Elite All Out 2022 Brawl

Billy Gunn has weighed in on one of the most notorious backstage incidents in recent wrestling memory — the blowup between CM Punk and The Elite following AEW All Out 2022. The WWE Hall of Famer, who has long been part of AEW’s locker room as a coach and producer, recently offered his own reflections on the night everything boiled over.

For those who need the recap: All Out 2022 was supposed to be remembered for Punk’s AEW World Championship defense against Jon Moxley and the surprise return of MJF after months away from the company. Instead, the show’s legacy was hijacked by what happened once the cameras stopped rolling. Punk, Kenny Omega, and The Young Bucks — Matt and Nick Jackson — were involved in a physical and verbal altercation backstage that spilled out of the arena and into wrestling headlines for weeks afterward. The fallout was significant: suspensions were handed down, Punk was pulled from AEW programming for an extended stretch, and the incident became a flashpoint in the larger narrative about tension between Punk and the EVPs that eventually contributed to his AEW departure altogether.

That Gunn is now looking back on the chaos matters because of where he sits in the AEW ecosystem. As a trusted veteran voice backstage and someone who has worked closely with younger talent and the promotion’s top stars alike, his perspective carries weight beyond just another outsider rehashing old drama. Gunn was around the locker room during that tumultuous period, and any insight he offers — even in broad terms — adds another layer to a story that fans and media have picked apart for years without ever getting a complete, agreed-upon account from everyone involved.

The All Out 2022 incident remains one of those rare moments where the business side of wrestling became the story itself, overshadowing genuinely big in-ring moments like MJF’s long-awaited return. It also set the stage for Punk’s rocky final year in AEW, which ended with his release in September 2023 before his eventual return to WWE. With Punk now firmly entrenched back in WWE and no indication of any reconciliation with the Bucks or Omega, these retrospective comments from people who were actually in the building serve as some of the only new texture fans get on an otherwise well-trodden chapter of wrestling history.

Whether Gunn’s comments shed any new light on exactly what happened — or simply confirm what’s already been widely reported — they’re a reminder that the ripple effects of that night in September 2022 are still being talked about more than two years later.