It appears AEW has lifted the ban on mentioning or referencing CM Punk and The Elite (Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks), who is on hiatus from the promotion while suspended.
On Tuesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite, Tony Schiavone acknowledged that Omega and Young Bucks were crowned the inaugural AEW World Trios Champions at the All Out event before Death Triangle’s title defense against Best Friends on the show. There was no mention of The Elite when Death Triangles captured the vacated titles on September 7 or earlier this month when the trio defended the titles on Rampage against Dark Order.
When AEW President Tony Khan stripped Punk of the AEW World Heavyweight Title and The Elite of the Trios Titles, he didn’t mention them, but rather only the matches would take place to crown new champions.
Also, on Tuesday’s show, Punk appeared in a video package honoring the legacy of the ROH World Championship before Chris Jericho defended the title against Dalton Castle. This marked Punk’s first appearance on AEW TV before the backstage brawl at All Out with The Elite. Punk has been left out of video packages since the altercation.
I absolutely fucking love AEW honoring the legacy of ROH.
CM Punk, Kevin Steen, Tyler Black, Nigel McGuinness, Cody Rhodes all featured. pic.twitter.com/j5bsDhr2hg
— Drainmaker 🌧️ 💵 (@DrainBamager) October 19, 2022
Khan has refrained from speaking on the altercation in interviews because of the ongoing investigation into the situation.
As previously reported, Ace Steel, who was also involved in the fight, has been released by AEW.
