10 Biggest Mysteries In The Secret War Between AEW And CM Punk

9. When Did It All Go Wrong?

CM Punk
AEW

Mystery:

It all went wrong, badly, at some point. This much is known.

But when?

Punk was buddy buddy with Page on Twitter as late as January 25. It's unclear whether Page reciprocated Page's bromantic advances, but the point remains: Punk in early 2022 wasn't a paranoid, hateful mess under the belief that the Elite were conspiring against him. In the meantime, Cabana was working in AEW as a road agent; the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer reported this in the November 7, 2022 Observer, while Cabana himself, in a December '21 interview with The Danger Zone, confirmed it. "How do I become the best…maybe I'm not known as the World champion, but maybe I'm known as the World champion producer, which would only be appreciated by the wrestlers."

(h/t ewrestling.com)

At some point between January 5, 2022 (when WWE released him) and Revolution on March 6 (when Tony Khan announced his hiring), Ace Steel was recruited to AEW to work as an agent. In parallel, Cabana disappeared. Steel's arrival in AEW coincided with Colt's vanishing; Colt last wrestled for AEW, before Punk went AWOL, on March 4. The only other occasions on which Colt worked under the AEW umbrella were in August - but in Germany, a continent away from Punk, for a games convention.

AEW's rotating cast policy might explain this all away. Often, healthy wrestlers go months on end without appearing for AEW, even those who aren't known to be on unfriendly terms with the promotion (see: Lance Archer).

But Cabana was an agent, and it's not as if AEW was overstocked in that department: Pat Buck was signed for a producer role in April.

Theory:

What other conclusion can be drawn here?!

Did Punk use the hiring of Ace Steel to get what he might have secretly wanted all along - Colt gone - but couldn't orchestrate immediately without political push-back?

Was Punk opportunistic more than malicious in forcing Cabana out?

Or...?

In this post: 
CM Punk AEW
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!