Tony Khan Denies Rumor Regarding Colt Cabana, CM Punk, And Ring Of Honor

Tony Khan wants to clear the air about Colt Cabana. In a recent interview with Forbes, the All Elite Wrestling CEO said that Cabana's status in Ring of Honor has nothing to do with his relationship — or lack thereof — with former AEW World Champion CM Punk.

"There was a misconception that was perpetuated unfairly that CM Punk had anything to do with me wanting to move Colt Cabana to the Ring of Honor roster when his contract came up." Khan said. "[Punk] had nothing to do with any of the contracts I picked up, whether I did or didn't. But in particular, I did pick up Colt Cabana's contract and gave him a similar contract to do different work." Khan said he didn't feel it was "fair that got perpetuated ... I also don't think that was fair to Punk."

Punk recently shut down a Cabana chant this past Wednesday — by fat-shaming the fan chanting Cabana's name — when AEW was just outside Colt and Punk's hometown of Chicago. Reports back in July suggested that Cabana was "almost never" at AEW TV tapings since re-signing with AEW, with him instead being relegated to the Ring of Honor wing of Khan's joint operation. Cabana did appear at July's Death Before Dishonor event, getting a win over Anthony Henry on the preshow. 

Cabana last wrestled in an AEW ring during AEW's presentation of the "Fight Forever" game at Gamescom in Germany, a trip that — perhaps conveniently — meant he was overseas when Tony Khan held a meeting before "Dynamite" to address tensions in the locker room, which some believe involve the longstanding issues between Punk and Cabana. Cabana's most recent AEW Dark" match occurred back in March, and he hasn't wrestled on "Dynamite" since November 2021. He has never wrestled on "AEW Rampage."