Many fans were surprised to see Colt Cabana make his AEW return on Wednesday’s Dynamite as Chris Jericho’s opponent. Jericho defended the ROH World Heavyweight Title, and AEW hyped the match by noting that his opponent would be a former ROH Champion but didn’t specify who it would be.
Cabana’s return was considered to be an indication that CM Punk was out of AEW for good due to their history as the former AEW World Heavyweight Champion continues talks with the promotion about buying out his contract following the All Out braw.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that AEW President Tony Khan came up with the idea.
Meltzer wrote, “We were told that this was more for the locker room than anything else, that having Cabana on the show and given a positive spotlight after months of being ostracized for reasons that had nothing to do with him was a dressing room morale booster since he had many friends there.”
It will be interesting to see how often the promotion books him on AEW television, as he had been signed to a new deal earlier this year to work ROH dates after the locker room came to bat for him when his deal was up.
