Nearly a year ago, behind-the-scenes drama in AEW began to spill over onto pro wrestling news sites, and in a few instances, onto fans’ television sets. The tensions initially began when reports bubbled up online stating that CM Punk had tried to have his former friend Colt Cabana fired or regulated to a much lesser role once he signed with the promotion. The rumor persisted for months without a response from Punk but was alluded to in a few promo exchanges with other stars, including Eddie Kingston, who insisted no one in the AEW locker room wanted him there, and Hangman Page, who echoed similar sentiments.
Punk has obviously had enough with the situation and felt compelled to address it head-on, in his own way, last year at the AEW All Out media scrum. During his comments, he laid into reports that he had anything to do with Cabana’s push in AEW, something he has since repeated in an interview with Sports Illustrated. He also gave insight into why the two former friends had a falling out, pointing to financial issues during their trial against WWE’s Dr. Chris Amann. A general lack of trust also seemed to play into the divide between the two men.
Following his media scrum comments, an altercation broke out in the locker room involving Punk, The Elite, and a few others, resulting in everyone being stripped of their titles and taken off TV. Once The Bucks and Omega did return to TV, they immediately went about taunting Punk’s hometown Chicago crowd with his signature “Go To Sleep” hand motion, among other displays of disdain.
Shortly before The Elite’s TV return, Colt Cabana was booked for his first major AEW match in quite some time when he battled Chris Jericho for the ROH World Championship on an episode of Dynamite, raising eyebrows in the process. Since that match, Cabana has not been seen at AEW tapings, but he did have an ROH match against Samoa Joe in April.
Fightful reports that Cabana was backstage at this past Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite and served as a producer/coach during the show. It was not made clear which matches and/or segments Cabana had a hand in helping with, and we do not know if this is a temporary decision, but it appears that Cabana will be around more often.