‘This Book is All Elite’ author addresses lack of coverage of CM Punk’s AEW exit
Keith Elliot Greenberg has addressed why his book, This Book is All Elite, does not discuss CM Punk’s departure from the company.
Greenberg was interviewed by Features of Wrestling and said he did not focus on what led to Punk leaving AEW because the book is intended to be a tribute.
“So one of the criticisms I telegraphed in advance, and I even discussed this with AEW, was the people were going to be unhappy that I don’t talk about whatever chicanery occurred backstage that led to the departure of CM Punk” Greenberg said in the interview.
Regarding why he did not address Punk’s exit from AEW, Greenberg continued:
“This is a tribute book. If I wrote a book about the New York Mets, which is my favorite baseball team, I even have a Mr. Met tattoo. I would talk about the two World Series runs. I would talk about their marquee players, but I wouldn’t talk about the fact that the owners at the time were supposedly investors with Bernie Madoff.”
Greenberg went on to describe the issues Madoff’s Ponzi scheme created for the Mets before adding:
“But if the New York Mets asked me to do a tribute book about the New York Mets, I could do a really great tribute book, and not mention Bernie Madoff. So I was asked to do a book that is a tribute to AEW during the first five years, and that doesn’t belong in a tribute book, because really, we’re just talking about one or two incidents, but there’s a lot of backstage stuff in it, and a lot of positive backstage stuff in the book.”
Greenberg, a New York Times best selling author, has published numerous wrestling books including 2006’s Tangled Ropes with “Superstar” Billy Graham, which was voted Best Pro Wrestling Book in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards that year.
He has also published “Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks” about “Classy” Freddie Blassie, “Too Sweet: Inside the Indie Wrestling Revolution,” “Follow the Buzzards: Pro Wrestling in the Age of Covid-19,” and more.
The full interview with Keith Elliot Greenberg is available on the Features of Wrestling website here.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.