AEW Releases Ace Steel
All Out brawl antagonist Ace Steel released by All Elite Wrestling. Details within.
Ace Steel is an All Elite Wrestling employee no more.
Dave Meltzer reports on Wrestling Observer Radio that AEW let go of Steel, who had been working there as a producer, yesterday. The former ROH wrestler and close CM Punk affiliate had been suspended since All Out 2022 (4 September), having brawled alongside Punk and with Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks following the post-show press scrum.
While accounts of what happened vary, Steel is believed to have bitten Omega and pulled the Elite man's hair during the fracas. The situation was sparked during the scrum, where Punk's incendiary diatribe saw him throw criticism at Colt Cabana, wrestling media, 'Hangman' Adam Page, and AEW's crew of Executive Vice Presidents. Afterwards, the fight broke out when The Elite approached Punk and Steel in the former's locker room.
Punk and The Elite have been off television since the incident. If and when they will return remains a mystery, owing to suspected pending legal issues stemming from the brawl. AEW has thus far declined to release any kind of official statement on the matter.
Steel, 49, had been with AEW since coming in in a backstage role in February. August saw him make a televised appearance hyping Punk up for his then-impending AEW World Title match with Jon Moxley, which Punk won at All Out.