Bryan Danielson sheds light on decision to fire CM Punk following his return to the WWE

Bryan Danielson has revealed what happened behind the scenes when the AEW committee he was a part of fired CM Punk.

Punk, 44, was released by All Elite Wrestling after a backstage brawl at Wembley in September.

Towards the end of last month, he then made a shock return to the WWE at the Survivor Series in Chicago after a nine year absence. 

After his return, it was made clear that Danielson was ‘the face’ of an AEW committee, which also included AEW General Counsel Chris Peck and an outside attorney, that fired Punk.

Asked by Mail Sport’s Alex McCarthy whether he wanted to comment further on this, the 42-year-old said: ‘The whole thing was hard. I really like Punk and I have a lot of respect for him and you know he’s been an important part of of AEW.

‘I just wish him the best that you know going forward. I hope he does a great job there, and I hope he has a lot of fun. I don’t really wanna say a lot, you know, I’m new to this.’

Discussing his role within the committee, he added: ‘Nobody wants to be a part of a disciplinary committee, right? My wife and I joked about it and how I could turn it into a gimmick handing out fines, but the reality is I was honored when they asked me to be a a part of it.

‘It’s not something I get paid for. I’m just like the other wrestlers in the sense of I don’t have a contract outside of being a wrestler contract. 

‘But I was honored to take on more when they asked me to take on more roles backstage. I mean that that always makes you feel good. 

‘They trust me in these positions, and that sort of thing, that’s honestly with this being kind of my last full time year a wrestler. That’s something that I’m looking at going forward as what other things could I do besides being in the ring.

‘All the other people on the committee have college degrees. They’re lawyers and I’m like. I don’t have any education. I’ve been play fighting in my spandex, for, you know, 24 years now. So that’s that’s been my education. So no better degree than that.’

Danielson has said he was ‘honoured’ when they asked him to be part of the AEW committee