As was noted earlier today, CM Punk’s name was originally listed on the press release for AEW Collision but he was removed in the final version.
PWInsider reported today that there’s a belief in the company that Ace Steel was expected to return to the company to work behind the scenes. Steel is one of Punk’s good friends and was involved in the fight that broke out after All Out last September and he has since been let go.
PWInsider also reported that the decision was made that Steel would not be working backstage at the Collision tapings and that left Punk and AEW at the “opposite sides of the discussion.” This is said to be the reason why Punk was removed from today’s announcement and also why Warner Bros. Discovery stated that Punk is not affiliated with the show.
As for Steel, there was said to be interest from Impact Wrestling in bringing in Steel for a tryout but he passed on the offer several weeks ago and it was believed at the time that he declined it because he was headed back to AEW or WWE.
So, in a nutshell, the WBD statement issued to ComicBook.com is not a work and as of now, he is not involved with the new show. There are 4 weeks left until the new show debuts so there’s time to work things out. The debut episode of Collision is believed to be taking place at the United Center in Chicago.
Punk posted this on Instagram. It’s unclear why this was directed at Bryan Alvarez because today’s report about him came from Mike Johnson:
CM Punk has just posted this on his Instagram Story: pic.twitter.com/BEmW4zVoBm
— WrestlePurists (@WrestlePurists) May 17, 2023
