Following a much-publicized backstage brouhaha at an AEW event, professional wrestlers CM Punk and the Young Bucks (Matt and Tito Jackson) have completed a four-week sensitivity training course mandated by their employer, All Elite Wrestling (AEW). 

In a statement, AEW President Tony Khan said that the company “does not tolerate microaggressions, macroaggressions, or mediumagressions of any kind in its locker room,” adding that AEW “must be a safe space for all.” 

Guided by workplace conflict-resolution counsellor Dr. Marion Shelby, Punk and the Young Bucks participated in trust-building exercises and learned to work through their differences via respectful, constructive dialogue. 

Punk and the Jackson brothers spent two weeks at an outdoor-education retreat, using teamwork and honesty to solve challenges and grow closer together as colleagues. 

“It was a transformative, life-affirming experience that has totally reshaped how I think about inter-personal workplace relationships,” said Tito Jackson. “We’re closer now than we’ve ever been. We’re all going antiquing this weekend!”

As for Punk, the retreat helped him realize that “teamwork makes the dream work,” and he apologized for previously behaving “like a petulant, self-absorbed jag-off,” though he failed to narrow down which instances he was referring to.