5 Reasons CM Punk Was WORTH The Trouble To AEW (... & 5 He Wasn't)

So, like: what happens to Collision now that its star, main character, and raison d’etre has been removed from the company? OK, it’s reductive (and downright inaccurate) to suggest that Tony Khan created Collision for the sole benefit of Phil Brooks, but the new show was certainly a neat way to keep Punk off Dynamite, and he had a Poochie-esque presence on Saturday nights.

That, in and of itself, is plain weird. The anti-establishment guy being essentially handed his own TV show is not the kind of thing the CM Punk of 2011 could countenance. And it speaks to a deeper problem: Tony Khan was clearly in thrall to his prize acquisition.

Seeing the owner and head booker of a wrestling company chant the name of one of his wrestlers - one who has proved to be a difficult guy to deal with - can’t sit well with other wrestlers on the books. Nor can the reports that Punk has significant veto power on aspects from personnel (banning Adam Page, Matt Hardy, and - wildly - Head of Talent Relations Christopher Daniels from venues) to whether or not real glass can be used.

The power or the lack of accountability went to his head, and now we are where we are, and the plan seems to be Give it Bryan Danielson ‘til the end of the season. Which, yeah, not a bad idea, actually.