Report: AEW Stars "Sceptical" Of Tony Khan's CM Punk/Colt Cabana Story

CM Punk and Tony Khan are insistent that the former had nothing to do with Colt Cabana being removed from AEW television last year - but other roster members aren't so sure.

Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that Khan's company line has been received by what he describes as "vehement scepticism" from "a lot of people" in AEW. This follows Khan's post-Full Gear media scrum on Saturday, during which he outright stated that Punk did not request Tony stop using Cabana in AEW.

Punk debuted for AEW in August 2021. Three months later, Colt contested his last Dynamite bout until this November, when he returned for a one-off clash with ROH Champion Chris Jericho. Within the Khan-verse, Cabana was restricted to working on Dark, untelevised events, and ROH shows during his TNT/TBS absence.

Cabana and Punk share a turbulent and complex personal history. The latest blow-up adjacent to this came during September's post-All Out presser, where Punk erupted, resulting, ultimately, in his indefinite suspension. The now-former AEW World Champion asking journalist Nick Hausman if he was friends with Cabana was the trigger point there.

Punk has always been adamant that he didn't have anything to do with Cabana fading from prominence in AEW. Meltzer states that Khan isn't going to publicly change the company line, which is consistent with Punk's version of events. Nonetheless, people that Meltzer has spoken to aren't convinced by this, to the extent that they don't believe they are speculating, but "believe they know the story."