Colt Cabana's AEW Return "Didn't Go Unnoticed" By WWE
Colt Cabana is back in All Elite Wrestling. The independent circuit veteran made sporadic appearances for the company before officially signing with AEW in February 2020. From there, Cabana picked up victories on AEW Dark before joining The Dark Order in Summer 2020. While Cabana has never been a prominent player in AEW, he has provided a veteran presence to the promotion's locker room and has remained a supporting player to John Silver, Alex Reynolds, and company. That said, Cabana disappeared from AEW TV after losing to Bryan Danielson in November 2021. He would continue to compete in the odd AEW Dark match and helped promote the upcoming AEW Fight Forever video game, but was not part of the televised talent pool.
That changed this Wednesday, as Cabana answered Ring of Honor World Champion Chris Jericho's open challenge to any former ROH titleholder. Cabana, a two-time ROH Tag Champion, received a hero's welcome from the Baltimore crowd. Despite ultimately coming up short, loud "Colt Cabana!" chants echoed throughout the Chesapeake Arena even after the match concluded.
Apparently, those chants were loud enough to reach Stamford, Connecticut. Insider WrestleVotes tweeted that Cabana's AEW return "didn't go unnoticed" by WWE.
While details of what that means remain close to the vest, it's worth shining light on the timing of Cabana's comeback to AEW programming. Vignettes began airing for Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks's return last week, signaling that the third-party investigation into the AEW All Out backstage fight had concluded. Due to multiple reports indicating that the resolution of the fight would result in only one of the parties returning to AEW, many took The Elite's vignettes as a sign that CM Punk would not be back. Beyond that, more reports have suggested that Punk and AEW are in the process of buying out his contract, with the only hold-up supposedly being the non-compete clause.
Considering Cabana's return came within a week of the investigation ending, fans have speculated that this was AEW President Tony Khan doubling down on taking The Elite's side. Cabana was the main subject of Punk's infamous and uncensored tirade at the AEW All Out press conference.
As for what WWE noticing this means, some believe WWE might be interested in bringing back Punk. Reports have suggested Punk returning to WWE is very much a "never say never" scenario with WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque simply being open to the idea rather than specifically looking to make it happen.
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on Punk's wrestling future.