Just when it looked like CM Punk’s hotel controversy was starting to cool off, another wrestling name jumped into the middle of it.
Missy Hyatt saw the backlash surrounding Punk’s now-deleted Instagram post and the video involving a mother and her two sons, and she didn’t hesitate to pick a side on Twitter. In her eyes, the problem isn’t Punk refusing a photo—it’s fans treating hotels like they’re part of the meet-and-greet.
“I saw the video of the mom taking her 2 kids to a hotel to meet CM Punk and was miffed he blew them off.”
Hyatt doesn’t believe wrestlers are on the clock 24 hours a day. She said every job has “store hours,” and once talent leaves the arena, they deserve the chance to eat, rest, catch a flight or simply be left alone without fans tracking them down.
“Every person in any career—not counting some 1st responders—have ‘store hours.’ Purposely tracking wrestlers to their hotel or airport arrivals is wrong.”
She wasn’t saying fans should never say hello. Hyatt actually drew a line between bumping into someone by chance and intentionally waiting outside hotels or airports hoping for an autograph or selfie. If a wrestler is chatting with people in the lobby, that’s one thing. Chasing them back to where they’re staying is another.
“Nobody would want somebody tracking you down to your hotel—uninvited. If wrestlers are being social in the lobby and you are respectful, it’s fine.”
What really bothered Hyatt, though, was seeing these interactions filmed and posted online after they don’t go the way a fan hoped. She argued that turning on a camera to pressure a wrestler into stopping—and then blasting them online if they don’t—is unfair from the start.
“A current WWE or AEW wrestler is not available for 24/7 meet and greet. Putting a camera video to strong arm an interaction is wrong & then to use the video to bash the talent is even worst if they dont comply.”
The whole thing exploded after Punk asked fans not to follow him back to his hotel following WWE’s Las Cruces live event. Since then, fans have shared competing versions of what happened, another YouTuber recalled his own run-in with Punk at a hotel in Australia, and now Hyatt has become the latest person to weigh in. Whether fans agree with her or not, one thing is clear—the conversation around wrestlers, hotels and personal boundaries isn’t going away anytime soon.
Do you agree with Missy Hyatt’s take, or do you think fans should be able to approach wrestlers at hotels? Let us know in the comments below.
