More on CM Punk/Collision/Hangman/Nemeth (Patreon)

We’ve now heard stories from many sides of the AEW Collision/CM Punk/removal situation.

As highlighted on August 13, Ryan Nemeth was brought into North Carolina before the tapings, before he was promptly sent home. We’ve learned more about the words that they had recently. According to those familiar with the situation, Punk approached Nemeth when the two were at the Chicago Dynamite, where Punk was asked to be at. Punk spoke to Nemeth and asked him to make good on his “literally the softest man alive” tweet. The two moved out of the locker room and into a hallway, where those close to Punk claim that Nemeth said he was working to get heat. Punk believed that the tweet was Nemeth trying to score points with his friends, and asked him to knock it off because “tensions were high and they were trying to move on.” He said that he didn’t want Nemeth being passive aggressive unless they were handling it another way.

People close to Punk claim that Nemeth apologized, and that the two shook hands.

It was confirmed to us that Punk didn’t want Nemeth on Collision, even eating in catering, much less wrestling on the show. It wasn’t clarified to us if that was because of his tweet, or the relationship with the Elite. In addition, Nick Hausman of Haus of Wrestling reported that the reason Christopher Daniels was kept from Collision because Ace Steel, CM Punk’s friend, is not allowed at Collision. Punk didn’t see that as fair, as Daniels was also involved in breaking up the Brawl Out fight last September.

We’ve made an effort to reach out to Nemeth, but he’s off of social media.

We have confirmed that Hangman Page was around this past weekend for a pre-tape, but we haven’t confirmed he was at the building and asked to leave. Wrestling Observer reported that Page was told they’d need to do the pre-tape away from the arena. After the show, Punk cut a promo taking shots at Hangman Page, which Haus of Wrestling claims didn’t come off the way Punk wanted and he felt bad about them after.

Punk claims to people that he talks to that he still wants to sit down with Hangman Page, Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, but they refuse. Those we spoke to say that Hangman Page generally avoids the situation, and has not been interested in working with Punk at least over the last year or so. The situation was not a work on Hangman’s end as of publishing this article, though many on Collision have said that they believe Punk is trying to work himself into an angle. Those close with the Elite say that these situations make them want to distance themselves more.

We have confirmed that Matt Hardy and Isiah Kassidy were supposed to be at recent AEW Collision episodes, and their travel was booked, then unbooked. They were not scheduled to be at this past week’s episode of Collision.

The talent that have been pulled are of the belief that it was CM Punk, but we haven’t heard specifically that’s the case. That same suspicion is part of the domino effect that led to where we are now, dating back to speculation that Colt Cabana was initially not going to be re-signed by AEW.

We’ve not heard of Tony Khan’s reaction to the situation, outside of that he was excited for Punk to be back. PWTorch has said that Khan was audibly exclaiming as Punk walked by him at Gorilla position upon his return.