Bryan Danielson On CM Punk: Losing Somebody Important Is Hard, But Everybody Continues Doing The Job

Bryan Danielson addresses CM Punk’s departure from AEW.

Bryan Danielson addresses CM Punk’s departure from AEW.

CM Punk’s controversial run in AEW came to an end on September 2 when the company terminated his contracts. The move came following an investigation into a confrontation between Punk and Jack Perry at AEW All In. Punk’s exit left many dream matches on the table, including a clash with Danielson, someone Punk has plenty of history with.

Speaking with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Danielson addressed how Punk’s departure could potentially affect the roster.

“In any job, when you lose somebody who’s very important, or you lose somebody you really like working with, that’s hard. But everyone keeps doing the job. And any time there is loss or controversy or struggle inside an organization, it’s a chance to bring people closer. It’s also a chance to divide people. So you have this thing where you can use struggle to make your life worse, or you can use struggle to make your life better. When I lost my father, I came out on the backside. I was worse. Struggling with my depression, I’ve come out of it better. So how you approach something and how you learn from something, that’s what makes the difference,” Danielson said.

Danielson has somewhat replaced Punk as the face of AEW Collision, and he faced Ricky Starks in a Strap Match at AEW All Out. Fightful Select reported that Punk had been set to headline the pay-per-view in a match against Starks.

After AEW All Out, Danielson highlighted the importance of stepping up when needed. Check out his comments here.

Check out the card for the September 13 episode of AEW Dynamite here. Fightful will have live coverage of the show as it airs.