There were issues between Bobby Fish and CM Punk before Fish's exit from AEW

Fightful Select has more details on Bobby Fish's exit from AEW. Fish's contract ran out on August 31st and he is a free agent and is free to sign with any company that might be interested, including WWE.

Fightful reports that there were discussions between Fish and AEW about a contract renewal but both sides could not come to terms financially and the feeling from AEW's side was that it was an amicable parting of ways until Fish's comments about CM Punk/AEW on his podcast. However, Fish is still friendly with many people in the company and the issues with Punk had nothing to do with his exit from the company. Fish reportedly had told people that he didn't appreciate Punk's attitude after their match in October 2021.

Fish said the following about Punk on his podcast: “Let’s just make this a formal invitation to Phil. I’m down if that’s the direction he wants to go. I mean, he could pick the time, the place, like we can do it in Chicago.”

Fish added, "It can be boxing, it can be kickboxing, it can be MMA, I mean sh*t, we can do this Bare Knuckle. He can pick the weight. He can pick the place. Like I said, whatever he wants to do, but yeah, let's make it official. Like, come on Phil."

There is no word on if there's interest from WWE but he reportedly has not been mentioned from a creative standpoint. Based on recent comments on his podcast, it looks like Fish would be open to a WWE return if they are interested. Fish said the following a couple of weeks ago prior to his exit from AEW:

"I do remember the first time I was at NXT, he gave the post show talk to the group, I remember it was at Full Sail. He laid out some things and the vision and the way that he saw certain things, etc, etc. By the time he was done talking, I don't know if it was, you know, 20 minutes or 30 minutes, but by the time he was done talking, I just remember thinking to myself, like as a pro wrestling fan, pro wrestling guy, pro wrestler, whatever you want to call it, if you could listen to that speech and not support this guy, like, lose my number. We can't be friends because his way he saw the whole thing was just awesome. Number one, I'm a fan of the way he sees the business. But two, he really wants the business itself to thrive and to go on to have uncharted success. Then after being there with him for the better part of three or four years or whatever, and being the Undisputed Era, going through the WarGames and all that stuff, I would go to war for that man, hands down. If he tells me, 'Listen, I need you to run through that wall', I'm gonna try. If he tells me he thinks I can do it, like, alright. I will try.”