Report: The Elite & others suspended by AEW, CM Punk’s fate to be decided today

According to Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso, AEW owner & president Tony Khan has made some decisions about the fight that broke out backstage between his World champion CM Punk and his Executive Vice Presidents & Trios champs The Elite (The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega) after the All Out press scrum during the early hours of Monday morning.

Punishment for that backstage fight, Sports Illustrated has learned, will include suspensions for every person involved. The list of those receiving suspensions includes Omega, Matt and Nick Jackson, Pat Buck, Christopher Daniels, Michael Nakazawa, and Brandon Cutler. Multiple sources have shared that Punk and Ace Steel will either be among those suspended, or will no longer be with the company by the end of Wednesday. Punk met with Khan on Tuesday, so the two had an opportunity to discuss how that exit could be handled.

Sources tell Barrasso an external third-party investigation will be conducted. It’s not specified if that will be solely focused on determining responsibility for the fight and actions within it, or if it will be an examination of the larger issues which led to Punk’s incendiary comments at the post-PPV presser.

It doesn’t seem the initial suspensions will cover the entire months long drama reportedly caused by resentment and rumor over AEW’s handling of Punk’s former friend Colt Cabana after his arrival in the company last summer. Hangman Page’s promo on Punk from May brought the issue to a head, but he’s not mentioned in SI’s report. Page was not in Hoffman Estates, Illinois’ Now Arena at the time of the fight, having left shortly after the event ended.

A suspension of four of the company’s top stars will hamstring AEW’s efforts to make a huge push into the fall, and negotiations for a new television deal with Warner Bros Discovery. If Punk is fired, Khan will also be without the veteran star he himself touted as a game changer for his young company.

But at this point, he really doesn’t have many other options. That’s because AEW allowed the bad blood between Punk and The Elite & others backstage who are still friendly with Cabana to simmer until something like this happened. And ultimately, TK has no one to blame for that but himself.

More when we have it.