10 Times Wrestling Ruined What You Loved

2. CM Punk & Colt Cabana Friendship

CM Punk Colt Cabana
AEW

When CM Punk landed in All Elite Wrestling (and indeed returned to wrestling full stop) in July 2021, there were eyebrows raised and whispered questions about exactly how things would go between 'The Voice Of The Voiceless' and colleague/peer/former lifelong friend Colt Cabana.

Eyebrows and questions remain respectively raised and whispered to this day.

At last report, Cabana was quietly moved to Tony Khan's new Ring Of Honor project, presumably lifting him from many of the locker rooms he would have otherwise shared with the 'Voice Of The Voiceless'. How they'd interacted in the prior months remained mostly unreported, but the mere fact this all still feels slightly shadowy is saddening enough.

Once thick as thieves, the two were bound together in a court of law when WWE came for Punk's ultra-controversial Art Of Wrestling podcast exit interview. A series of devastating misunderstandings over finances after the case followed, and the friendship that once seemed bulletproof was left in a (potentially permanent) ruinous state.

 
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Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett