– Despite CM Punk being terminated by the company and returning to WWE late last year, it looks like the ongoing backstage drama between Punk and AEW is far from over. It seems a great deal of the dispute between CM Punk and The Elite (Hangman Page, The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega) in AEW stemmed from a rumor that Punk tried to have Colt Cabana fired or removed from AEW, and the issues seemed to snowball from there, leading to the backstage incident that took place at AEW All Out 2022 in September of that year. Punk was later fired from AEW after a backstage altercation with Jack Perry that took place at AEW All In: London in August 2023. He would return to WWE for the first time in almost 10 years in November at WWE Survivor Series: War Games. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has an update on the ongoing Punk saga with new information regarding what took place with Punk in AEW.
The new claim is reportedly coming from someone within AEW, who sent the claim to after Punk’s recent appearance on The MMA Hour With Ariel Helwani and before AEW aired the backstage footage from All In London. The individual claimed to WON’s Dave Meltzer, “I know there will be a lot of continued discussion about the whole situation with Punk/AEW this week and I just wanted to reach out to give you a perspective and what is ultimately only my opinion.”
The anonymous individual claims that Punk did indeed try to have Cabana fired from AEW. The individual also states that the issue regarding Punk’s tenure and AEW will never be over until both the company and Tony Khan are truthful “that Punk did indeed demand Colt be fired for no other reason than their previous personal issues.” The source claims that people in AEW feel safe to defend themselves as a result of how the Punk incident was handled.
The individual also noted how people mentioned by Punk on The MMA Hour are unable to defend themselves against the accusations made by Punk during his appearance. The individual said Punk’s claims on the show, “Some true, some distorted, and some outright lies, will continue to keep the messy situation alive and I think we all want to move past it.”
The source adds that Tony Khan lied to defend CM Punk by publicly claiming Punk never asked for Colt Cabana to be fired. The anonymous individual stated, “Tony coming right out and saying ‘Phil never asked for Colt to be fired,’ and continuing to cover for him about that story, even now, makes saying anything unsafe for anyone. It definitely did happen.” The individual goes on, “You can see how likely it is to have happened by looking as his behavior in effectively banning people from Collision.”
The anonymous AEW worker also said that Punk “made verifiably untrue statements” in his interview with ESPN in a story by writer Marc Raimondi that was published before Punk returned to AEW in the summer of last year. The individual alleges that AEW intervened before the interview was published and had some of the statements omitted from the report. The individual claims these statements would’ve been able to show to the entire staff, the roster, “and probably the public” that Punk’s story that he never demanded Cabana to be fired was untrue. It’s unknown what statements were removed from Punk’s interview with ESPN.
The anonymous AEW worker suspects that the reason Khan isn’t being truthful about the situation with Punk is because it could have potential legal ramifications. However, the individual also feels if AEW truly wants to move past this, the best way to do it is by being upfront and truthful about what actually took place.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that another talent, described as a “major star” from AEW said they feel they’ve never been told the truth about the CM Punk and Colt Cabana situation. The Newsletter reports that the different occassions that Khan backed up Punk’s account that he had nothing to do with the issue, multiple wrestlers later claimed to the Observer Newsletter that they knew that not to be the case. It should be noted that after these rumors surfaced, Cabana was not let go from AEW. He was ultimately given a new deal and primarily kept on as a primarily as a producer for AEW and ROH.
Another wrestler in AEW also spoke to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter informing them about a talent meeting that took place in AEW around Dynamite Grand Slam at Arthur Ashe Stadium in September 2022. The talent meeting was reportedly led by Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, and Chris Jericho. During the meeting, former AEW Chief Legal Officer Megha Parekh reportedly told multiple top stars from AEW that Khan might forgive Punk over the backstage incident at All Out and bring him back to the company. Parekh’s admission reportedly came despite the meeting being centered around the idea of how the company would move on from CM Punk and keeping any other issues within the company.
After the meeting, “one top star after another” reportedly went to see Khan and told him that Punk was not on their team and that they have a great team they should be moving forward with. Khan said that the issue was a legal one that he couldn’t comment on, but he did reportedly listen to the wrestlers’ grievances.
This is apparently what led to Khan keeping rosters separate between Dynamite and Collision, and how Khan wanted to build Collision around CM Punk. Warner Bros. Discovery is said to have “absolutely” wanted Punk as the flagship star of Collision, and there were multiple points where the deal almost fell apart because WBD wanted Punk for the show.
Eventually, AEW did debut Collision with Punk as part of the show. However, a backstage incident between Punk and Perry led to Punk’s termination from the company later on, and he’s since returned to WWE. However, with Punk’s recent comments on Helwani’s show, and AEW airing the backstage footage from All In, it doesn’t look like the issue is going to end anytime soon.
