All eyes are on AEW Dynamite tonight as fans eagerly await a huge announcement regarding the debut of AEW Collision.
Back in April, it was reported that CM Punk was on his way back to All Elite Wrestling for the first time since his participation in the brawl following All Out. It was expected that he would be central to the announcement of AEW’s new Saturday night program called Collision, which is set to debut on June 17th.
The Collision announcement was made official on May 14th at the Warner Bros Discovery upfront, but Punk’s name was nowhere to be seen despite being included in the original press release. While some believed Tony Khan may be saving the announcement of his return for Dynamite, it soon emerged that Punk was once again at odds with AEW over the return of his friend and trainer Ace Steel, who was fired after an investigation into the All Out brawl.
Steel was reportedly rehired by the company several months ago and has been working remotely with the understanding that he would be able to return to the road when Collision was up and running, but the decision was made on May 13th that he would not be at television tapings after all. The decision to not allow him to return to the road drove a wedge between Punk and the company, and his highly-anticipated return was once again in doubt.
Khan made no mention of Punk during his announcement about Collision, and the location of the first broadcast has yet to be announced. It was originally planned that Collision would debut at the United Center in Chicago, but with Punk’s status up in the air, the company reportedly investigated a backup plan.
AEW Collision Expected To Debut In Chicago After All
According to a report from Fightful Select earlier today, Punk had “productive conversations” with the company and those close to him believe he will be part of Collision’s debut after all.
Now, Dave Meltzer reports that fans can expect Chicago to be revealed as the location for Collision’s first episode on June 17th.
“The belief is that CM Punk will debut on 6/17 at the first Collision show in Chicago and that the issues have been settled. Unless things change, Chicago will be announced tonight. How the announcement of Punk’s return will be handled is unknown.”