AEW Reportedly Re-Hired Ace Steel “Several Months Ago”, AEW & CM Punk Backstage Issues Update

As noted before, CM Punk and AEW recently got involved in a backstage dispute over the status of Ace Steel being potentially rehired to the company. These issues revolved around AEW officials being willing to rehire Steel but not have him be present backstage at AEW tapings.

Haus of Wrestling’s Nick Hausman reported that his sources stated that Steel had been rehired back to AEW several months ago and he has not been actively working backstage at AEW shows since his return.

Hausman reported that following his rehiring, Steel was informed that he would be working with AEW CEO Tony Khan in some capacity in creative but would not be allowed to be physically present backstage at shows. This reason reportedly was due to Khan not wanting to upset some of the talent if Steel was seen present backstage. Steel reportedly has been working remotely for the company for the past few months.

Hausman reported that his sources also confirmed that AEW officials did have plans at one point for Steel to return to the road for the company once their new Collision series debuted. AEW officials reportedly made the decision this past Tuesday to not go ahead with these plans and Punk had learned of this shortly afterwards. This decision and Punk’s reaction reportedly also ended up causing some miscommunication between lawyers and was the reason why Punk was pulled from Collision’s debut announcement.

Hausman reported that Punk’s relationship with Khan is believed to be on sound footing despite the recent situation over Steel’s status and there are no issues between the two. Hausman also reported that communications between the two still remain open.