AEW

UPDATE: An AEW star has now called out the “top name” who told Dave Meltzer they’d left Dynamite in a bad mood – find out more at this link.

A top AEW name has described the situation in the locker room as a “ticking time bomb” following the return of CM Punk.

Despite CM Punk only being one week into his AEW return, there are serious doubts behind-the-scenes about whether the company’s current approach of keeping Punk and The Elite apart is sustainable long-term.

In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer revealed that a “top name” in AEW walked away from Dynamite in a “bad mood” about the entire situation.

Meltzer wrote:

But one top name noted to us that they went home after the show on Wednesday in a bad mood and even with the key people kept apart and not on the same shows, described the fear of this being a ticking time bomb that will not have a happy ending.

Despite the initial belief upon Punk’s return being that he would be a Collision star while The Elite remained on Dynamite, this has already been proven to not be a 100% strict rule as Punk was on this past Wednesday’s show.

Of course, that may have just been an exception due to it taking place in Chicago.

The Elite, on the other hand were not in attendance, instead only appearing in a backstage segment with Eddie Kingston that was taped a week earlier. Kingston was there this week and appeared live in front of the crowd.

Punk went on record in last week’s interview with ESPN saying that he had attempted to contact members of The Elite after all out, but the response was letters from attorneys telling him not to.

Since then, the two sides haven’t had any kind of interaction with each other. Meltzer reported earlier this week that some of Punk’s comments in the ESPN interview, and in his promo on Collision, had made the “divisiveness” within AEW worse than it was.

Despite AEW’s best efforts to keep them apart, the two parties will be in the same place at the same time for this Sunday’s June 25 Forbidden Door pay-per-view at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada.

Despite reports suggesting a match with KENTA was in the pipeline for Forbidden Door, Punk will instead face off against veteran NJPW star Satoshi Kojima in the opening round of the Owen Hart Tournament at the event.

It was reportedly KENTA who rejected a match with Punk, not the other way around.

As for The Elite – The Young Bucks and Hangman Page will team with Tomohiro Ishii and Eddie Kingston to take on Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, Claudio Castagnoli, Konosuke Takeshita and Shota Umino.

Elsewhere, in the co-main event of the night (along with Bryan Danielson vs Kazuchika Okada), Kenny Omega defends his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Will Ospreay in a rematch from Wrestle Kingdom 17.

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• The Elite
• cm punk
• AEW

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