Colt Cabana is happy with his place in AEW and hopes he never has to find a different job.
While appearing on a new episode of Talk’n Shop, Cabana explained that he has multiple behind-the-scenes roles with AEW. He also is still part of the AEW roster despite admittedly being in a stage where his in-ring career is starting to wind down.
“I’m a producer. I work with the merch team. I work with the VIP team and also I’m a wrestler, but I haven’t been getting the call to wrestle,” Cabana said before Doc Gallows added that Cabana has become irreplaceable.
“I’m trying to make myself irreplaceable. I don’t ever want to leave this job.”
Gallows then asked Cabana what a typical AEW show day is like for him.
“I get to the show. I wait until they tell me what match that I’ll be producing,” Cabana responded. “Sometimes Shop AEW or Pro Wrestling Tees will send stuff with me, and I’ll go get it autographed, or I’ll go give it to someone to get it autographed, or I’ll kind of work in the autograph/merch department, or I’ll get some promos done for socials for Pro Wrestling Tees or for Shop AEW. I’ll do that. Once I get my assignment, they give me the match, and then I just kind of go over my match with the wrestlers.”
Cabana said that, as a producer, he doesn’t like dictating to the wrestlers what they should do. If they have conflicting ideas, he’ll usually let the wrestler win out and try what they wanted. That allows the wrestler to either succeed or have a learning experience where they figure out what went wrong.
“You’re the artist, you’re the wrestler, you’re the one that got yourself here,” Cabana said. “I’m only here to help your ideas, maybe help them grow, help put them together, help form them, make suggestions. But ultimately, it’s your match and I want you to either do great for your match or I want you to eat sh*t. So you learn, like, ‘Oh, this is why this didn’t work.’ Like, if you don’t have the learning experience, you’re not going to learn. That’s kind of the way I produce.”
Cabana said he enjoys the process of communicating with the director’s truck while the matches he produces are going on. It taps into Cabana’s wrestling experience and lets him use that part of his brain for the 10 or so minutes the match is happening.
Before AEW shows, Cabana usually hosts the VIP experience for fans who purchased premium tickets. He’ll speak with the fans and bring in a couple of wrestlers or someone like Jeff Jarrett to meet them.
Cabana has been under contract with AEW since 2020. He noted that, when he signed, he had three different contract offers on the table. He could have signed with ROH, went to NJPW to team with Toru Yano full-time, or joined AEW. He’s pleased with the decision he made, especially given how much the pandemic impacted the wrestling industry shortly after he signed his AEW deal.
It’s difficult for anything to live up to the feeling he gets competing in the ring, but Colt Cabana is enjoying the work he does backstage in AEW.
A new episode of AEW Close Up premiered this week with Renee Paquette interviewing Cabana. During their conversation, Cabana discussed his backstage job as a producer, which gives him the opportunity to use the wrestling knowledge he’s built up over the years in a different role.
“I like it. I do like it. The performer in me will always want to perform, so there is a little bit of heartbreakness going on,” Cabana said. “But as a producer, I’m in the trenches. And I like being in the trenches. And I also — I feel I know wrestling. I was and am so immersed in it for so many years now. I like that that knowledge can be used. I like to use that knowledge.
“Some people like different things about producing, I really like when I’m talking to the [production] truck and it’s like I’m almost in the middle of the match. You hear it takes three people, the wrestlers and the referee, but I feel like the fourth person. I really enjoy it. I enjoy it.”
Cabana still competes on the indies but admitted that his in-ring career has probably started to wind down. Wrestling provides him a unique kind of joy, but Cabana loves performing in any capacity, whether that’s comedy, podcasts, or even his producer job.
The 45-year-old Cabana has had a well-traveled career as a comedy wrestler and starred for ROH both in the ring and on commentary. He’s now been with AEW for more than five years.
It was another edition of Colt on the Street on today’s Being the Elite.
Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, and The Young Bucks were all absent from the show again this week. The episode featured Colt Cabana and Brandon Cutler interacting with fans in Philadelphia as AEW was in the city for Dynamite and Rampage.
They quickly ran into a young fan wearing a Danhausen mask who was very excited to meet them. Cabana also told one fan that he loves her and she was somewhat hesitant to reciprocate.
Another fan featured on the show this week had several wrestling-themed tattoos. He had tattoos of Earthquake, Doink, Crush, and was wearing Billy Gunn shorts. Another fan was dressed up as Dusty Rhodes and did a very impressive impersonation of him as well. After the show, they asked a fan how he thinks they did in their match and he only responded that they had nice outfits.
Being the Elite was a special episode this week featuring Colt Cabana and Brandon Cutler.
Cutler and Cabana walked around Rosenburg, Texas, and spoke with fans as AEW was in town for Dynamite and Rampage. The entire episode was just the two of them interacting with people and doing funny little bits with them.
Highlights from this week’s show include a young fan teaching Cabana how to superkick and then pinning him in an impromptu match. The kid and Cabana upheld the code of honor after the short match by shaking hands.
Cabana also asked a fan dressed up as Hulk Hogan why he “kayfabed” him at SmackDown tapings in 2004. Another fan was dressed up as Mistico and they congratulated him on his win over Rocky Romero. They also ran into fans of The Acclaimed, Young Bucks, and more. The two approached the merchandise table as well and discovered that there were no Cutler or Cabana shirts for sale, which did not surprise them.
The Young Bucks and company were in Cincinnati for this week’s episode.
Last week, Matt Jackson’s own thoughts were angry with him for having messed up the Hung Bucks IP rights deal, which he sold to The Dark Order for an amount of money far lower than he thought. This week, Matt was obsessed with finding out what other members of The Elite are thinking. However, it turns none of them was thinking about anything important at all. Nick Jackson was really enthusiastically daydreaming about eating a steak and Hangman Page wondered if he could still do a cartwheel.
Footage from Brandon Cutler & Colt Cabana vs. Johnny TV & Aaron Solo was also featured on the show.
Will Washington was back on the episode this week too. Kip Sabian had no idea who he was.
The Dark Order approached Matt in the locker room and thanked him for making them rich. They bragged about all the money they’ve been spending from a sponsorship deal they signed with both Chili’s and Wendy’s. They also mentioned they bought Starbucks and renamed it to Hung Bucks Coffee. They gave Matt a sample of their new coffee but the scene ended abruptly when Silver revealed a special ingredient he put in the beverage.
This week’s edition of Being the Elite featured behind-the-scenes footage from AEW All In.
The show did not include any references to the reported physical altercation that took place backstage at the show but footage from London was shown.
Matt & Nick Jackson spoke about finding out Bray Wyatt died last week and said they would be dedicating All In weekend to him and Terry Funk.
Highlights of The Bucks traveling around London were shown as well. The brothers also showed off their gear for the show, which was inspired by Freddie Mercury.
Colt Cabana debuted “The Cabana Cam” this week. Clips he filmed of Brandon Cutler’s match on ROH were shown.
Clips of Ryan Nemeth’s recent ROH performance were also shown. Nemeth attended a Cleveland Guardians game on this week’s show as well and promoted his appearance at Starrcast.
Will Washington was back this week. He continued to play the role of the guy who remembers what happened in previous episodes of BTE.
The Young Bucks, Brandon Cutler, Colt Cabana and Ryan Nemeth were all featured on Being The Elite this week.
The Bucks were shown backstage after their win over The Gunn Club on Dynamite and Matt Jackson revealed that somebody has purchased the rights to the Hung Bucks merchandise. However, he doesn’t know who the mystery buyer is.
Nick Jackson was upset with this news but was appeased when Matt said he would take him out for pizza. Will Washington continued his role on the show as the guy who remembers things from previous episodes. He reminded The Bucks that having pizza is how they made up with Cody Rhodes on episode 161.
Ryan Nemeth was also back on the show this week. Nemeth appeared to be taking a break from the SAG AFTRA strike as he was seen visiting a petting zoo in the episode. He asked several animals if they would be going to Wembley for All In and if they feel Adam Cole and MJF can co-exist. At the end of his segment, Nemeth then decided that he is going to begin smoking cigarettes as a way to deal with the stress of the strike. Since he doesn’t really know how to smoke them, however, he just put the cigarette behind his ear to look cool.
Matt Jackson, who recently vacationed with his family in Hawaii, sent out a heartfelt message to all the victims of the recent wildfires in the area near the end of the episode. 100% of the royalties from a special edition Young Bucks t-shirt will go to the Maui Strong Fund.
On this week’s edition of Being the Elite, Colt Cabana is in charge as The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, and Brandon Cutler all had the week off after Blood & Guts.
Colt Cabana is in charge —
Cutler told Cabana that he’s in charge of shooting the episode this week. Cabana then spent some time psyching himself up in front of a mirror before starting.
Several people backstage at AEW were upset that Cutler wasn’t there again this week.
Cabana asked the camera crew for help but found their technical explanations too boring so he left.
Nobody was too impressed with Colt’s filming but he didn’t have his thumb in front of the lens this week, at least.
Cabana asked Christopher Daniels to do some of his old bits but he wasn’t interested.
Nyla Rose, Anna Jay, Matt Hardy, and others also did not want to do a bit with Cabana.
Rose turned him down more than once.
Negative One slapped the camera out of his hands.
Ryan Nemeth promoting Hunkamania —
Nemeth is gearing up for his comedy show with his brother in Detroit this week. He showed off some of the promotional material for the event and clips from previous shows.
Colt Cabana and The Dark Order —
Cabana wandered into The Dark Order’s locker. They struggled to remember who he was.
Once they found out Cabana was filming the show for The Young Bucks, Dark Order told Cabana to get out of their room.
Thursday’s Ring of Honor TV lineup will feature three champions, two of them in non-title matches.
Ahead of his title defense on Friday’s AEW Rampage against Dralistico, AAA Mega Champion El Hijo Del Vikingo will face Gringo Loco in non-title action.
ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe will defend against Colt Cabana while ROH Women’s Champion Athena will face Heather Reckless in a Proving Ground match.
Fresh off his save of The Elite on Wednesday’s Dynamite, Konosuke Takeshita will face Lee Moriarty.
Penta El Zero Miedo, one half of the ROH Tag Team Champions, will be in singles action against Nick Comoroto while Brian Cage, one third of the ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions, will take on Joey Jett.
After an alliance was formed last week, Action Andretti & Darius Martin will face The Kingdom’s Mike Bennett & Matt Taven.
Other action includes Willow Nightingale, Lance Archer, The Iron Savages and Dark Order’s Alex Reynolds & John Silver.
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Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman were on the call for this week’s edition of ROH, taped on April 12th in Milwaukee, WI as part of the live AEW Rampage taping.
The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) (w/Maria Kanellis-Bennett) defeated Action Andretti & Darius Martin
The Kingdom isolated Martin to start, taking him down with a series of strikes in the corner. Martin fought out of the corner and leapt for a tag, but Bennett caught him in a spinebuster. Andretti got a blind tag in, and after a series of dives, Andretti hit a springboard moonsault onto the Kingdom to take control. Andretti hit a springboard clothesline to Taven before following it with a bulldog for a nearfall.
Andretti went for a running attack on Taven, but Bennett cut him off and set up a double team on Andretti. The Kingdom went for the Hail Mary, but Martin tossed Taven off the ropes to cut it off. Andretti hit a corkscrew crossbody on Bennett before following up with the split-legged moonsault for a nearfall. Andretti and Martin hit a double team move before setting up stereo dives, but Maria cut off Andretti. Taven sent Andretti off the buckle to the floor, leading to the Kingdom hitting the Proton Pack on Martin for the win.
– In the back, Athena threatened all the “porcelain hussies” around the world to step up and answer her open challenge.
Nightingale was in firm control early on, sending Renegade to the floor. Renegade cut off a Nightingale kick and dropped her on the apron. Renegade laid in the shots to Nightingale in the corner before slapping her in the face. The slap fired Nightingale up as she went on the offensive, laying out Renegade with a spinebuster for a nearfall. Nightingale hit the Pounce, sending Renegade into the ropes.
As Renegade laid in the ropes, her sister Charlette Renegade tried the Killer Bees switch out spot. It only served as a distraction as Robyn Renegade went for a roll-up, but Nightingale reversed the cover to score the win. After the match, Robyn adhered to the Code of Honor, but it was only a trap as Charlette chop blocked Nightingale. The Renegades laid out Nightingale with a Hart Attack and stood tall to end the segment.
– Dasha Fuentes was backstage with Colt Cabana, who will challenge Samoa Joe for the ROH TV Title later tonight. Cabana called this the triad, as he had previously challenged Joe for both the World and Pure Titles in ROH. He didn’t know what the future held for him, but he would capitalize on tonight’s opportunity.
Lance Archer defeated Jah-C
Archer got a jump start, dragging Jah-C out to the ring with him during his entrance. Jah-C got a total of two shots in before Archer crushed him in the corner with running elbows. Archer let Jah-C try to fire up, but Archer dropped him with a reverse DDT. A short-range lariat mercifully ended this one as Archer got the win. Archer dragged Jah-C to the back to continue the beatdown.
Brian Cage (w/Prince Nana) defeated Joey Jett
Jett got some chants as the bell rang, but Cage quickly took control with suplexes. Cage hit a boot in the corner as the crowd chanted for Jett. Jett caught Cage with some strikes on the apron, but Cage cut off an outside-in cutter with a lariat. Jett got more offense in, dropping Cage with a flatliner and a running boot. Cage cut him off and quickly put Jett away with an F-5.
ROH Women’s World Title Proving Ground Match: Athena defeated Heather Reckless
Reckless came out firing with strikes, getting a one count from a standing Sliced Bread. Reckless went for a crossbody off the apron, but Athena caught her and flung her into the barricade. Athena threw Reckless into the barricade twice more before dumping her back in the ring. Reckless caught Athena in a small package for a nearfall, but Athena came back with a series of powerbombs. Athena locked on the Crossface for the quick tapout victory. After the match, Athena drove Reckless’ head into the title belt for good measure.
The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & John Silver) defeated Cole Karter & Lee Johnson
Silver out-paced Johnson to start, leading to a Dark Order double-team. Karter tagged in but met a similar fate as Reynolds booted him in the corner. Johnson took Reynolds’ attention, which allowed Karter to send Reynolds into the barricade outside. Karter & Johnson worked over Reynolds before Reynolds fought his way to the corner for a tag.
Silver sent Johnson into Karter with a gorilla press slam. Silver powerbombed Johnson into Reynolds’ knees before the Dark Order hit their finishing double-team sequence for the win.
Penta El Zero Miedo (w/Alex Abrahantes) defeated Nick Comoroto
After some shenanigans, Comoroto overpowered Penta to take control. Penta hit a Slingblade for a nearfall before clubbering on Comoroto in the corner. Comoroto burst out of the corner with a spear for a nearfall. Penta slipped out of Comoroto’s grip and hit a backstabber before following with a double stomp for a nearfall.
Penta snapped Comoroto’s arm back with the Sacrifice armbreaker, but Comoroto fought out of the Package Piledriver and hit an ushigoroshi. Comoroto lost Penta on a gorilla press due to the damage to the arm, leading Penta to hit the Sacrifice on the other arm to score the win.
Konosuke Takeshita defeated Lee Moriarty
This was a standout match between these two, as Takeshita sold Moriarty’s arm work well in the body of this match. I always appreciate when limb work pays off in the closing stretch of a match, and Takeshita and Moriarty made sure to link all the arm work together by the end of the match.
Takeshita and Moriarty traded arm drags before Takeshita laid out Moriarty with leg lariats. Moriarty hit some chops before Takeshita dropped him with a forearm. Moriarty fought out of a Blue Thunder Bomb attempt and hit an arm breaker to send Takeshita to the floor. Moriarty sent Takeshita into the barricades with a double knee rush.
Moriarty targeted Takeshita’s arm with strikes and holds. Moriarty sent Takeshita into the turnbuckles shoulder-first, but Takeshita cut off a third attempt and started fighting back. Takeshita hit the big head-of-steam clothesline before following it up with a brainbuster. Takeshita drilled Moriarty with forearms before hitting a second rope senton for a nearfall. Takeshita went to the top rope, but Moriarty cut him off and hit a superplex.
They had a strike exchange, leading to a Takeshita German suplex and Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall. Moriarty caught Takeshita with a capture suplex before locking on the Border City Stretch. Takeshita rolled Takeshita up to get out of the hold and got a backslide for a nearfall. Moriarty tried to counter another German with a roll-up, but Takeshita dropped him with a Bastard Driver for a nearfall. Takeshita tried the Chaos Theory, but the arm gave out. Moriarty dropped Takeshita with a lariat, but Takeshita caught him with a German. Takeshita hit a ripcord forearm and the running knee to score the win.
El Hijo del Vikingo defeated Gringo Loco
Vikingo is absolutely incredible. I’m awed every time I see him. He brings that megastar energy as well, as the crowd was red hot for this one. Go out of your way to see this one.
These two started off quick, with Vikingo taking Loco down with a Tijeras off of Loco’s shoulders. Loco handsprung out of another Tijeras, but Vikingo sent him to the floor with a hurricane kick. Vikingo went for a dive to the floor but crashed and burned as Loco moved. Loco hit a dive of his own as the crowd chanted This Is Awesome.
Loco sent Vikingo up and over with a facebuster for a nearfall. Loco went to the top rope but missed a spinning splash. Vikingo sent Loco into the corner and went to the top, but Loco cut him off. Loco went to the top rope and brought VIkingo down with a step-over Spanish Fly. Loco followed with another facebuster for a nearfall. Loco slapped Vikingo in the face, but Vikingo answered with a superkick.
Vikingo hit a spinning back kick and another superkick before hitting a handspring to the ropes. Vikingo hit an misdirection into a springboard Tijeras that sent Loco to the floor. Vikingo hit a step-up dragonrana to Loco on the floor, before hitting an outside-in Phoenix Splash for a nearfall. Loco cut off Vikingo, but Vikingo caught him on a crossbody and hit a spinning uranage. Vikingo sent Loco to the floor and hit a ropewalk tornillo splash to the floor.
Loco caught Vikingo and hit an Alley Oop into the turnbuckle. Loco brought Vikingo to the top rope and hit a gorilla press slam all the way down for an eventual nearfall. Vikingo avoided a charge from Loco and hit a springboard tornado poisonrana before following with the double knees into the corner. Vikingo hit the 630 splash to win.
Iron Savages (Boulder & Bronson) (w/ Jameson Ryan) defeated Logan Lynch & Ren Jones
Boulder sent Jones into Lynch with a gorilla press, before Bronson dropped Jones into Lynch with a piledriver. Boulder hit a double bodyslam on both opponents before electric chair dropping his own partner into his opponents for the quick victory.
– Gringo Loco talked about how he’s zig-zagged across the world trying to get Tony Khan’s attention. Loco said after the match, Khan raised his hand and invited him back to ROH anytime. Loco may not have won the match, but earning his way into ROH was just as big of a victory.
ROH World Television Title Match: Samoa Joe (c) defeated Colt Cabana
This was Samoa Joe’s ninth title defense.
Cabana used his technique to stay out of Joe’s hands, but Joe caught Cabana with a back elbow to cut him off. Joe hit the body splash and enzuigiri combination for a nearfall. Joe worked on Cabana’s neck and shoulders, hitting a big kick and an elbow drop for a nearfall. Joe drove Cabana into the corner with strikes before setting up the Muscle Buster, but Cabana fought him off and caught Joe with a roll up for two.
Cabana dropped Joe with a big elbow before hitting the Flying Apple. A big splash from Cabana got a nearfall. Cabana went for a moonsault, but Joe got the knees up and quickly locked on the Coquina Clutch for the win.
The lineup for ROH TV this week has been announced.
The show will feature Samoa Joe defending his ROH TV Championship against Colt Cabana.
Other matches set to air on Thursday include El Hijo Del Vikingo vs. Gringo Loco in a non-title match, Athena vs. Heather Reckless in a proving ground match, and The Kingdom vs. Darius Martin & Action Andretti.
The show was filmed on April 12, 2023, from the UWM Panther Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
ROH TV lineup for April 20, 2023:
ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe defends against Colt Cabana
AAA Mega Champion El Hijo Del Vikingo vs Gringo Loco in a non-title match
ROH Women’s World Champion Athena vs. Heather Reckless in a Proving Ground match
The Kingdom (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven) w/Maria Kanellis-Bennett vs. Action Andretti & Darius Martin
Robyn Renegade w/ Charlette Renegade vs. Willow Nightingale
The Iron Savages (Boulder & Bronson) vs. Ren Jones & Logan Lynch
Penta El Zero Miedo w/Alex Abrahantes vs. Nick Comoroto
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Lee Moriarty
Alex Reynolds & John Silver vs. Lee Johnson & Cole Karter
Dax Harwood has opened up about several topics including Colt Cabana, CM Punk, and camaraderie in the AEW locker room.
The debut episode of FTR with Dax Harwood was released Wednesday for subscribers to the AdFreeShows Patreon. The episode will be available for non-subscribers beginning Thursday. Harwood also made a plea for Punk and The Elite to “find a way to make it work” for the betterment of the business during the show.
Harwood on Colt Cabana:
I don’t know Colt very well. The very first day we were in the company, I could be wrong, I just felt that Colt didn’t like us. There were some people there that didn’t like us. I remember that he made fun of my accent the very first day and I wasn’t very happy with that.
I take offense to that and maybe I shouldn’t but if people knew my backstory and how hard I worked to get the education that I got.
I was in college and my mom and dad both lost their jobs within a month of each other. I had nobody to help me with rent or books or food or anything. So, I had to work three jobs plus wrestling on the weekends just so I could pay for my college. I paid for my own college and got a degree at UNCW and a bachelor’s in English and a bachelor’s in business communication. It was all through my efforts and if the people saw the sleepless nights that I had, the nights that I cried because I was worried that I wasn’t going to get this or the nights I had negative dollars in my bank account because I was paying for books or putting things on credit cards and stuff like that, I think maybe they could understand it then. But for him to make fun of my accent because the connotation is if you’re a southerner, you’re stupid. That bothers me and maybe I shouldn’t let it bother me. So, that was the very first run-in I ever had with Colt but other than that, I’ve never really had a conversation with him, never talked to him, nothing like that.
On if he knew the extent of the problems between Punk and Cabana:
No one said anything to me. I heard nothing but when he first got there, no one said anything, and to be honest, I really had no idea that there was any kind of problem between the two. I knew there were issues with the lawsuit with the doctor but I had no idea the extent of the problems they may have had and I never cared to ask because it’s none of my business.
No one ever said anything to me, and I say no one Punk included, Colt included, they never mentioned any kind of ill feelings towards one another.
When asked if there was a divide in the AEW locker room, Harwood stated that “everybody in that male locker room gets along great,” but would clarify that there are male wrestlers in AEW who have their own locker rooms.
There are people who have their own locker rooms, for sure. That’s just where I spend the majority of my time, in the male locker room, which sounds weird for me to say out loud but that’s where I hang out, that’s where my friends are, that’s where my buddies are.
I hope he doesn’t mind me saying this but Orange Cassidy, we’re good buddies and we have a drink. Trent Beretta, same thing, Chuck, same thing, obviously, Cash. We love the camaraderie of each other and we love the locker room that we’re in and we make sure that everyone knows that.
Chris Jericho has commented on why AEW brought Colt Cabana back to television.
Jericho discussed his match with Cabana from the November 2 Dynamite during the most recent episode of Talk is Jericho. He said Cabana’s return was done “solely” because they wanted to reintroduce him and not because of anything related to CM Punk and the backstage altercation at All Out 2022.
“We wanted to bring Colt back onto the show, reintroduce him. He had a pretty rough year as well,” Jericho said. “[He’s a] former Ring of Honor Champion (tag champion), always enjoyed his work, a very solid worker, and it was fun to have him back and that’s the reason why he came back, solely, was just because we wanted to have him on the show and reintroduce him. He hadn’t been on TV for a while,” Jericho said.
“Colt was always another guy that we had talked about doing something with as well. Colt and Dalton Castle and PCO but PCO wasn’t going to work out so we used Bandido, I think that’s what it was.”
Earlier in the show, Jericho had commented on what prevented a match with PCO from happening.
“The other one I was trying for was PCO. It didn’t work, he’s working for TNA/Impact and he also got hurt, had some issues and we just couldn’t work that out,” Jericho said.
Jericho also mentioned that they tried to organize matches against other former champions in ROH such as Dragon Lee and Chris Hero. Matches against Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal were discussed but both were involved in other storylines at the time.
“I wanted to do another match with an outside guy. So, we had a couple of ideas. One was PCO, once again, he wasn’t available. The other idea I had was Chris Hero but he wasn’t available either, couldn’t do the gig. And same thing with Dragon Lee, was another idea that Tony had and he couldn’t make it. I was like, ‘Does anybody want to wrestle me?’ We’re thinking maybe we could use Christopher Daniels, I suggested Samoa Joe or Jay Lethal but they are in different programs. Finally, Tony, once again the smart ideas that he has, says ‘What about Ishii?’ and I was like, ‘That is great.'”
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including fallout from AEW Full Gear, more Tony Khan press conference notes, Kenny Omega working the Tokyo Dome, AEW and NXT line-ups, Stardom and New Japan weekend notes, Royal Rumble breaks records, the Rock, RAW report for the week and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps
Start: Fallout from Full Gear
14:40: Stardom/NJPW notes
24:54: Royal Rumble breaks records
29:08: NXT/AEW previews
33:45: Cain Velasquez asks judge to allow him to wrestle
Colt Cabana’s return has “only made things worse” regarding the relationship between CM Punk and AEW.
Cabana wrestled Chris Jericho on the November 2 Dynamite in his first appearance for AEW (not including ROH shows or Fight Forever promotions) since early March. His return furthered speculation that his absence was due to Punk’s influence within the company.
Our own Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Cabana’s return has driven a further wedge between Punk and AEW.
“Colt Cabana wrestling Chris Jericho only made things worse as far as issues with the two sides. Punk remains adamant he had nothing to do with Cabana being gone,” Meltzer wrote. “A lot of talent in AEW believes and insists differently and it’s openly talk about.”
It was also noted that Cabana’s return was a Tony Khan decision and not a suggestion from someone else.
Punk is currently rehabbing the torn triceps he suffered at AEW All Out. Meltzer reported that his recovery is going “really well.” Regarding his contractual status, he is still under contract to AEW and his merchandise has been sold at recent live events. It was reported last month that the two sides were negotiating a buyout of his deal but there are no updates regarding the status of those discussions.
Meltzer also addressed the possibility of Punk signing with WWE should he no longer be under contract to AEW.
“We’ve asked about the potential for Punk here, and it appears from a creative team standpoint it’s not positive because most of them follow what happened in AEW,” Meltzer wrote. “However, they also recognize this is going to be a Levesque/McMahon/Nick Khan call and even with some negative things said and interactions, if you are just talking business, it is something bigger than anything else they could create.”
