Ace Steel released from AEW

Ace Steel is reportedly done with AEW. 

As first reported by PWInsider and confirmed by our own Dave Meltzer, the former coach/producer was released from the promotion on Thursday, five days after CM Punk was fired with cause. 

This is the second time within a year that AEW has released Steel. He was fired from the promotion last October stemming from his involvement in the Brawl Out altercation backstage at All Out 2022, where it is alleged he bit Kenny Omega. 

Steel was brought back to the company to work with Punk on Collision this summer. Our own Dave Meltzer wrote in The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that according to one source, Steel was given back pay for the time he was gone as a concession to Punk. However, Steel was not allowed to physically attend Collision shows and would have to work remotely. This led to a delay in announcing Punk’s return to the company. 

Meltzer wrote:

Steel was fired, then secretly hired back, according to one source, with back pay from the time he was let go, as a concession to Punk when he agreed to come back, but then told he could only work remotely and not work backstage. Steel’s return was controversial because in the brawl he allegedly threw a chair hard at the head of Nick Jackson and bit Kenny Omega in the forearm. Photos from more than a week later of Omega in a short-sleeve shirt when he was in Japan after the incident clearly showed bite marks on his forearm.