Report: NDAs Involved In CM Punk/AEW Return Situation

AEW

A new update has emerged on the situation with CM Punk and AEW after the announcement from Tony Khan on last night’s Dynamite.

That announcement was the fact that the debut episode of Collision will indeed be taking place at the United Center in Chicago on June 17, which all but confirms Punk will be appearing, although Punk himself wasn’t announced by name.

On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer followed up with what he’s heard on how the situation resolved itself after the issues last week.

He said:

“There were a couple of things done. There was some legal stuff that was taken care of. There were NDAs involved in this.

“I think the key stuff is AEW was protected as far as him showing up for all the dates.

“The decision is, as far as we know, that Ace Steel will be working remotely, he will not be an agent going to the Collision shows, which was what the big thing that happened last Tuesday was, so that was how that was settled.”

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The first part of that looks to align with what Fightful Select previously reported, which was:

Regarding rumors that Punk was served with legal papers, we’ve been told that some documents were sent to Punk to be signed over the last week. We haven’t been given indication they were legal threats but told they covered speaking about certain subjects, disparagement clauses, and ensuring he appears at scheduled television dates, largely to protect AEW in several situations. 

We’ll keep you updated with any further developments.

Here’s the full press release for Collision that was released last week, which originally featured Punk before he was removed when the issues came up:

TNT LAUNCHES A SECOND NIGHT OF WRESTLING WITH “AEW: COLLISION” FEATURING HEADLINERS THUNDER ROSA, MIRO, SAMOA JOE, POWERHOUSE HOBBS AND ANDRADE EL IDOLO ON SATURDAY, JUNE 17

NEW YORK (May 17, 2023) – TNT launches a second night of professional wrestling with a new tentpole series, “AEW: Collision” on Saturday, June 17, it was announced today by Kathleen Finch, Chairman and Chief Content Officer, US Networks Group, Warner Bros. Discovery, during the company’s 2023 Upfront presentation at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

This live, two-hour, in-ring show will air every Saturday night from 8-10 p.m. ET and feature more wrestlers, more stories and more action to super-serve fans.

“AEW: Collision” will feature headliners including Miro, Samoa Joe, Thunder Rosa, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Andrade El Idolo.

In only four years following the launch of “AEW: Dynamite,” AEW’s footprint has more than doubled across TNT and TBS. Along with “AEW: Dynamite,” Friday night’s “AEW: Rampage,” the recent follow-doc “AEW: All Access,” and now “AEW: Collision,” TNT and TBS deliver the best matches and most entertaining moments in professional wrestling today.

AEW has reached 23M total viewers so far this year across all of its shows on TBS and TNT.*

“We’re doubling-down on wrestling with ‘AEW: Collision,’ which gives fans two more hours every week,” said Jason Sarlanis, President, Turner Networks, ID and HLN, linear & streaming.

“AEW’s roster of talent has expanded so quickly that we felt it needed another night to bring our audience the epic rivalries, unforgettable matches and stars they love to watch

“Adding ‘Collision’ to our programming mix on TNT will allow us to satisfy the massive demand we’ve felt from our hardcore fanbase and be the ultimate complement to ‘AEW: Dynamite’ on TBS.”

“With the addition of ‘AEW: Collision’ on TNT, I’m extremely proud that a Turner network will be the home of Saturday night wrestling for the first time in more than two decades,” said Tony Khan, CEO, GM and Head of Creative of AEW.

“The debut of ‘Collision’ is significant across numerous sectors including television, wrestling, entertainment and sports, and reinforces AEW as the bold property we envisioned when we launched in 2019.

“‘Collision’ will deliver live every Saturday night more of what fans and viewers tell us they want – athleticism, big personalities, exciting storylines and hard-hitting wrestling action, all of which have become synonymous with AEW.”

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• aew collision
• Collision
• Ace Steel
• cm punk
• tony khan
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