It was pointed out earlier by Jimmy Traina and Brandon Thurston that an earlier version of the AEW Collision press release listed CM Punk as one of the featured wrestlers for the show.
That led to speculation that a late decision was made to hold off on announcing Punk until a later date, possibly tonight’s AEW Dynamite or as a surprise on the first show on June 17.
The final press release had no mention of Punk and there’s been no talk about Punk on the AEW social media accounts. Instead, AEW is hyping names like Thunder Rosa, Miro, Samoa Joe, Miro, and Powerhouse Hobbs.
Connor Casey from ComicBook.com reached out to Warner Bros. Discovery and received the following statement: “CM Punk is not affiliated with TNT’s AEW Collision.”
It’s possible that this is a smoke screen to lower expectations when/if Punk gets officially announced. For what it’s worth, there are people in AEW that have been expecting Punk’s return so we’ll see.
Another thing that wasn’t announced was a new TV deal. It is worth noting that all of the chatter about a new deal was primarily on social media and no one officially tied to WBD and/or AEW has said that a TV deal announcement was coming. One would assume that AEW will be getting paid more for the Collision show since that’s an added expense for AEW.
A brand split had also been rumored but sources within AEW are saying that it’s not a hard split and that fans would see some wrestlers on both shows while others would primarily be featured more on one specific show. As always, plans are subject to change.
