10 Bold Predictions For What AEW Will Look Like This Time Next Year
2. The Elite WILL Be There
Again: as the very title of the article should make clear, what follows is pure speculation.
The Elite were very much pissed after the CM Punk presser. Whichever version of the story you believe - the Elite double super-kick partying the door down or Kenny Omega as Dr. Doolittle rescuing Larry the Dog - it is clear that a physical altercation took place.
The Elite - again, pure speculation - might also be very much pissed at Tony Khan.
In an extraordinary failure of leadership, Khan awkwardly sat there and actually nodded along, even if it was involuntary, when Punk scorched the earth. The last few minutes go under-mentioned, since Punk had calmed down and even put Jon Moxley over. Punk said "I'm a nice guy" while Khan looked at him doe-eyed and beaming.
In Khan's defence, had he attempted to put an end to the tirade, Punk may well have reacted badly. Warner might well have watched on as the owner and founder of AEW was publicly berated by his top star. That justifies, perhaps, Khan's lack of action.
It does not explain Khan just...sitting there and expecting nothing to happen as Punk walked out. How did he not sense something was going to kick off?
Regardless, what's done is done, and what was done might be interpreted by the Elite as tacit endorsement. At the very least, Khan did not say that Punk's views don't reflect his own.
The Elite could leave voluntarily if they aren't let go. This has to be a possibility. They are deeply aware of their value to the promotion, which can't remotely feel to them like it did in the beginning.
Call it naivety, optimism, whatever, but they'll be back and at the forefront by this time next year. Omega in particular is desperate to finish his years-long stories with Will Ospreay and Kota Ibushi. He won't be able to do it in WWE, and while he could simply return to New Japan, there's less of a financial incentive - and his period on the shelf will probably have reminded him that wrestling, or his vision of it, isn't a young man's game.