AEW reportedly planned to release Colt Cabana until wrestlers fought for him.
As The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported back in late May, there have been rumors within AEW that Cabana’s absence was connected to his ex-best friend, AEW World Champion CM Punk. When Cabana signed a new AEW deal, which was encouraged by AEW Executive Vice Presidents and the current AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks, The Observer reported that he was slated for the new ROH brand. The fact that Cabana worked ROH Supercard of Honor XV but had missed all of the AEW tapings after signing his new deal was also mentioned at the time.
While Cabana is still officially tied to AEW, according to a new report from Fightful Select, talent were informed that this wasn’t always going to be the case. The idea that AEW wasn’t going to renew Cabana’s contract caused some internal commotion, according to rumblings from AEW talent as early as March.
In the beginning, some AEW roster members believed that this was because of the tense relationship (or lack thereof) between Colt and Punk, but in the months that followed, some of those beliefs changed as a result of the diminished attention paid to The Dark Order in general and the manner in which the company let go of Stu Grayson and Alan “5” Angles.
Several AEW wrestlers apparently learned that Cabana’s contract was not renewed months ago. Several wrestlers then expressed their displeasure and defended Cabana because of how well-liked he is backstage due to his efforts at AEW and outside of the company. Cabana ended up working the ROH Supercard of Honor event on April 1 when he defeated Blake Christian because those wrestlers fought for him.
It was mentioned that Cabana hasn’t been scheduled to fight in a while, and he rarely, if ever, attends AEW TV tapings. Around the middle of April, it was thought that Cabana had been re-signed to Tony Khan’s ROH brand, which is the arrangement that has since been mentioned.
At the time of writing, Cabana is still listed on the AEW roster page. Since teaming up with Angels to lose to The Butcher and The Blade on AEW Dark in March, which was taped on March 4, he hasn’t competed for AEW. Prior to that, he had only worked one previous AEW bout in 2022, a six-man contest involving Angels and Evil Uno. At the March 3 Dark tapings, they lost to Brandon Cutler and The Young Bucks. On the Thanksgiving episode of Dynamite on November 24, Cabana lost to Bryan Danielson in his final appearance.
Cabana worked a number of dates beginning in 2019 before signing his first AEW contract in February 2020. He eventually became a member of The Dark Order. While away from the AEW ring, Cabana has worked events for other promotions, including WrestlePro and Freelance Wrestling. At ColtCabana.com, he also hosts his podcasts The Art of Wrestling and Wrestling Anonymous.
AEW has not yet announced Cabana’s return date or whether he will appear at the ROH Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view on July 23. Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more.
