AEW Star and pro wrestling veteran Colt Cabana has not appeared on AEW TV for quite some time now and there are a number of reasons why. Dave Meltzer reported on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter back in May that Colt is being earmarked to be a part of ROH once the company officially gets started as they currently do not have an existing TV deal, but AEW President and CEO Tony Khan, who also owns ROH did say that he is planning to negotiate a TV deal for ROH sometime in the near future.
Meltzer also added that Colt Cabana’s current status with AEW may be brought about by his issues with AEW World Champion CM Punk. Cabana previously signed a new contract with the company due to All Elite Wrestling Executive Vice Presidents and AEW World Tag Team Champions The Undisputed Elite’s The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) pushing for it to happen, but since he signed the new contract, Cabana has yet to appear on AEW TV.
Fightful Select reports that despite Cabana still technically being signed to All Elite Wrestling, he was on his way out of the company as back in March, there were rumors that Cabana’s contract with AEW wouldn’t be renewed and several stars were even told about this, but this would be a cause of concern among people backstage because Colt is someone who is extremely popular backstage and he is also very much liked due to his in-ring work both inside and outside of AEW. Those talents then went to bat for Cabana and they even voiced their displeasure and that would result in him competing in ROH Supercard Of Honor.
Aside from his appearance at ROH’s Supercard Of Honor, Colt Cabana is reportedly almost never present at All Elite Wrestling’s TV Tapings and he has not even been booked to compete in any AEW programming for quite some time. Talents on the AEW roster assumed that this was due to his relationship with AEW World Champion CM Punk, but those assumptions would be changed as The Dark Order were given less of a focus in general and it was also due to how AEW parted ways with Stu Grayson and Alan “5” Angels.
Despite concerns and rumors, Colt’s profile still remains active on the promotion’s roster page. Colt Cabana last competed for AEW on an episode of Dark back in March, when he teamed with Alan “5” Angels for a loss to The Butcher and The Blade. He last competed on AEW Dynamite on the Thanksgiving episode of the show this past November, when he lost to Bryan Danielson.
Colt Cabana, who initially signed his AEW contract in February 2020 after competing a number of times for the promotion in 2019, did face and defeat Blake Christian at the ROH Supercard of Honor XV Event this past April, which was Tony Khan’s first show as the owner of Ring Of Honor. Colt then eventually became a member of The Dark Order after initially signing his AEW contract and has since become a top star in AEW until recently.
Cabana and Punk were best friends for a really long time until their friendship would be affected due to Punk’s appearance on Colt Cabana’s “Art of Wrestling” podcast in November 2014, which was a number of months after CM Punk left the WWE because he felt he was mistreated during the time he was still a part of the company. The issues between Cabana and Punk would get serious when WWE doctor Chris Amann filed a lawsuit against Cabana and Punk due to the comments made by Punk during that podcast, but the case ended up going to trial and ruling in favor of Cabana and Punk.
The situation would only get worst after they won the trial as Cabana filed a lawsuit against Punk in August 2018 because of an alleged breach of contract and fraud due to Punk refusing to pay Cabana his legal fees from the Amann lawsuit after allegedly agreeing to pay them. CM Punk filed a counter-suit, but both lawsuits were settled and dismissed in September 2019 and it was reported then that both the lawsuits’ settlement involved no financial compensation, so it seems that there is no chance of their friendship ever being fixed and Cabana being involved with AEW going forward.
