Despite CM Punk’s termination by AEW and return to WWE late last year, the ongoing backstage drama between Punk and Tony Khan’s company looks far from over.
Much of the dispute between CM Punk and The Elite (Hangman Page, The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega) stemmed from a rumor that Punk tried to have Colt Cabana fired or removed from AEW.
The issues seemed to snowball, leading to the backstage brawl at AEW All Out 2022.
Punk was fired from AEW after a backstage altercation with Jack Perry at AEW All In in August 2023. In November, he returned to WWE for the first time in almost ten years at Survivor Series: War Games.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has an update on the ongoing Punk saga, with new information regarding what happened with Punk in AEW.
The new claim reportedly comes from someone within AEW, who sent the word after Punk’s recent appearance on “The MMA Hour” podcast with Ariel Helwani and before AEW aired the backstage footage from All In: London.
The individual states, “I know there will be a lot of continued discussion about the situation with Punk/AEW this week. 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, citing personal issues as the reason. The source further asserts that the issue between Punk and AEW will persist until the company and Tony Khan are transparent about the situation. The source also suggests that the way AEW handled the Punk incident has made people in the company feel safe to defend themselves.
The individual also cited how people mentioned by Punk on “The MMA Hour” podcast cannot defend themselves against the accusations he made during his appearance.
The individual said Punk’s claims on the show were “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 Khan lied to defend Punk by publicly claiming the latter 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. You can see how likely it is to have happened by looking at 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 published before the Second City Saint 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 Khan isn’t being truthful about the situation with Punk because it could have potential legal ramifications. However, the individual also feels that if AEW truly wants to move past this, the best way to do it is by being upfront and truthful about what happened.
Another talent, described as a “major star” from AEW, said they feel they’ve never been told the truth about the Punk and Cabana situation.
On the occasions that Khan backed up Punk’s account, it had nothing to do with the issue. Multiple wrestlers later claimed that they knew that was not the case.
It should be noted that Cabana was not fired from AEW after these rumors surfaced. He was ultimately given a new deal and primarily kept on as a producer for AEW and ROH.
Another wrestler informed the WON about a talent meeting in AEW around the Dynamite Grand Slam event at Arthur Ashe Stadium in September 2022.
Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, and Chris Jericho reportedly led the talent meeting. During the meeting, former AEW Chief Legal Officer Megha Parekh reportedly told multiple top AEW stars 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 how the company would move on from Punk and keep 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 had a great team they should be moving forward with. Khan said the issue was legal and couldn’t comment, but he reportedly listened to the wrestlers’ grievances.
This led to Khan keeping the rosters separate between Dynamite and Collision and how the AEW President wanted to build Collision around 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 debuted with Collision with Punk as part of the show. However, the backstage altercation between Punk and Perry at AEW All In 2023 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, the issue doesn’t look like it will end anytime soon.
