Recent AEW ‘backstage drama’ nearing ‘breaking point’ with some wrestlers

Tensions are high behind the scenes at AEW right now, especially with some of their top talents. 

In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer wrote that currently “there is a ton of backstage drama involving many of the top guys that has gotten much worse in recent weeks.”

Meltzer said that the catalyst is Colt Cabana being dropped from Dark Order with no explanation or angle. He is also not being brought to TV and was going to be cut, according to Meltzer. However, AEW head Tony Khan signed him for Ring of Honor instead.

This comes on the heels of AEW World Champion CM Punk calling out former AEW World Champion Hangman Page at the beginning of his Wednesday promo and calling him a coward. However, the reference and the line “coward sh*t” weren’t planned as Punk was supposed to stay focused on Moxley.

Cabana had a falling out with Punk after winning their famous lawsuit against WWE doctor Chris Amann. Cabana sued Punk for fraud, saying they had a verbal agreement Punk would cover his legal fees and any damages resulting from the case. The suit was dropped in September 2019.

Meltzer said that while the Cabana issues were the catalyst, there is an air of inevitability of problems.

“But even if (Punk’s Page callout) didn’t happen, it was probably going to happen for something else just given the nature of the different personalities involved. It feels like a number of people are close to their breaking point if things don’t get settled,” he wrote.

Meltzer didn’t go into details about which other top talents were having issues and with who or what.