— AEW finally announced that they will be bringing a new show – Collision – to the airwaves beginning next week and while reports had suggested that it would coincide with the return of CM Punk, no mention was made of the polarizing wrestler calling into question whether he will still be returning to AEW.

— Both pwinsiderelite.com and fightfulselect.com are reporting that Punk’s last minute absence has to do with the status of his good friend, Ace Steel, who was released from AEW last year after an investigation into the backstage fight that took place following All Out. It is believed that with Punk returning, AEW had also cleared Steel to return in some sort of off-camera capacity working directly with Punk, however, he would be prohibited from being backstage at Collision or being present for any AEW show for that matter.

— With the news that Steel wouldn’t be allowed at television, Punk was obviously not on board with that, and while not confirmed, it is believed to be the reason that he was suddenly removed from the Collision promotional material and not referenced in any way. In fact, WBD reps reportedly even went so far as to say that Punk was not going to be affiliated with the new show. Steel for his part was said to be right in the middle of the backstage scuffle last year and it was believed that there was no way he would be ever be working for AEW again, so for the promotion to even agree to let him work in any capacity was surprising to say the least. Steel was recently offered a position with IMPACT but he declined which led people to believe he was headed to WWE or back to AEW.