10 Biggest Unsolved AEW Mysteries

3. Did CM Punk Vanish Colt Cabana?

Full Gear Set
AEW/WWE

Evidence for:

A lot of people within AEW are adamant that CM Punk did in fact vanish Colt Cabana. Hangman Page, while contrite now, said what he said ahead of Double Or Nothing because he thought he was 100% sure of it. Tellingly, perhaps, Ace Steel replaced Cabana as a producer when Colt took a break to film Young Rock. And, while Tony Khan publicly said that Punk did not force him to relocate Cabana to ROH - every other wrestler signed to which appeared on Dynamite and Rampage around that time, incidentally - Khan has kowtowed to Punk before. Punk was at least halfway responsible for everything you saw on Collision, and if Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer is to be believed, Punk talked Khan into abandoning the rankings system. Also, in retrospect, Punk's assertion that he didn't care where Scott Colten works was much more difficult to believe when reports flooded in of Punk actively banning people, even management, from buildings in which Collision emanated. Punk’s Brawl Out promo was loaded with conviction, yes - but he's so great at talking that you'd listen to his argument if he told you the earth was flat. Punk is fond of a tall tale generally. He either despises WWE or considers it home depending on whether or not he works there, and has changed the narrative on how much he wants to headline WrestleMania depending on the exact same thing.

Evidence against:

Punk and Cabana actually worked matches on the same Dynamite cards on two separate occasions: October 27, 2021 and November 24, 2021. So, unless he bided his time and waited for the right moment, he did not in fact care where Colt worked (though one could argue that he did precisely that, around the time of Revolution '22, by bringing Steele in.)

Ultimately, there's no way of knowing, and those two dates stick out. The frustrating thing, for those who want to find out the truth once and for all, is that the circumstantial stuff vastly outweighs the case against - but the evidence for the case against is hard.

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!