This past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Baltimore, Maryland featured the surprise return of Colt Cabana. Cabana was revealed as the mystery challenger for Chris Jericho’s ROH World Championship match, which was won by Jericho.
Fightful Select reported that several AEW talent spoken to stated that they were happy to see Cabana on Wednesday’s show. It was also reported that prior to his absence from AEW programming, Cabana had been in a very happy mood in the company and had been helping produce matches as a backstage producer for the company.
It was also reported that those spoken to stated that Cabana’s appearance seemed like a major signal to WWE that CM Punk is finished in AEW. One WWE source spoken to who was familiar with both guys stated that they would be shocked if Punk and Cabana could ever work together again. Another WWE source spoken to stated that they have not heard of any update on Punk and WWE’s relationship since All Out 2022 and wouldn’t be comfortable reaching out to Punk to find out more.
In regards to the backstage reaction within WWE, WrestleVotes reported that their sources stated that Cabana’s AEW return “did not go unnoticed” by WWE officials.
In regards to Cabana’s status in AEW, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Cabana’s appearance was meant to be more of a one-off appearance for Jericho’s on-going former ROH Champions storyline. Those same sources reportedly also stated that his appearance was also more for AEW’s locker room than any real current plans for him in AEW.
Meltzer reported that while AEW officials still have plans to use him primarily for Ring of Honor, he could end up being used again in some form in AEW programming in the future due to him no longer being ostracized over CM Punk’s status in the company.