An incident between WrestleMania 42 Sunday main event-er CM Punk and fan that occurred in a Las Vegas hotel lobby just after midnight local time today (April 20) was captured on video. As various versions made the rounds on social media along with different spins and takes, TMZ picked up the story and accelerated its spread.
Their edit seems to paint a reasonably complete picture of the scene: Bayley is hugging her friend & mentor and Punk’s wife AJ Lee, presumably sharing a few private words with each other while saying goodbye after WrestleMania week. At least two fans (for lack of a better term) can be seen standing about five feet away from the pair filming their embrace when Punk walks over and slaps the phone out of the male fan’s hands.
Security steps between them as Punk stares the man down, then Punk’s friend, trainer, and “Brawl Out” tag partner Ace Steel appears to talk the multi-time WWE champ down. The fan says he’s sorry, but it sounds less sincere and more sarcastic each time he says it, and Punk can be heard snapping, “no you’re not”, while glaring at him. Eventually, Lee takes Punk’s hand and leads him out the door. Steel and a pair of security guards remain as the clip ends.
The person Punk confronted doesn’t seem to have done anything legally wrong — at least that’s my understanding. Unless the hotel (which in Vegas is probably also has a 24/7, open-to-the-public casino) barred the man from entering, filming others in public spaces is protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and does not require their consent. Author’s note: It seems my understanding of the legalities here was limited, or some would say flat wrong. Learn the same things I did down in the comments from the awesomely-named Kevin Nashquatch and The 984.
But those filming Bayley and AJ were doing something civilly wrong. There’s no good reason to need video or pictures of their private moment, and if they truly cared at all about the women who’s privacy they violated, they would ask before using their phones to capture it. They almost certainly know that pro wrestlers in general and Punk in particular have repeatedly asked fans to respect their boundaries, particularly at places like airports and hotel lobbies where they’re not on the clock and quite possibly stressed out or emotional… like the day after your first WrestleMania in more than a decade, or hours after you made your lifetime dream of main eventing WWE’s biggest show come true.
Punk’s reaction was aggressive, perhaps overly so. He’s gotten physical with a fan before, albeit not in this particular setting. His temper is well-known. But it’s also difficult not to empathize, especially as we continue to hear examples of inappropriate and even illegal fan behavior toward pro wrestlers.
Just recently, Stephanie Vaquer posted about being followed and filmed in an airport despite asking for privacy, and Jey Uso said he’s routinely touched inappropriately during his entrance. Rhea Ripley’s had repeated issues, including fans showing up at her residence. Asuka had a stalking incident serious enough to get police and her employers involved, and Liv Morgan just revealed WWE brought in the FBI regarding the person arrested for stalking her at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando last year. We’re not that far removed from the home invasion and attempting kidnapping of Daria “Sonya Deville” Berrenato, or Seth Rollins being attacked during Raw, either.
Elsewhere in Vegas this weekend, another of Punk and Lee’s wrestling daughters outed a WrestleCon attendee on social media for groping her during a meet-and-greet. TNA’s Elayna Black, formerly NXT’s Cora Jade, ended her thread with: “Having an OnlyFans does not equal consent to be assaulted. Some you need to be in prison. No more meet and greets for me!”
WWE’s providing resources to help talent, but wrestlers are infamously still classified as independent contractors, so any additional security measures will likely be out-of-pocket expenses for them. It makes it easy to understand why so many big stars negotiate private buses into their contracts. I’m assuming AEW and its international partners handle things the same way, but beyond that independent wrestlers are likely completely on their own.
We’d issue the usual plea asking our fellow fans not to do these things, but if they don’t work when Punk does it, who’s going to listen to us? It’s just hard not to fear that it’s only a matter of time before one of these bad wrestler/fan interactions ends tragically.
Please share any solutions you can think of in the comments below.
