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Sources within AEW confirmed to PWInsider.com this morning that Hangman Page was not "removed" from this past Saturday's Collision taping. It was simply a case of the location of the promo being moved to a different place, which had zero to do with CM Punk. The belief is that the Punk promo after the show bled into the promo being moved by those looking to knock Punk. As we noted yesterday, Page lives in the Greensboro area, which is why the promo was going to be filmed that day. It was not a case of the company sending him on the road and then sending him home.
We are also told by the same sources that Punk texted an apology to Page early Sunday morning but the same sources remained unaware if the two sides had conversed, just that an apology had been sent. Punk noted he was "rocked" during the same post-match promo but no one has confirmed he was concussed during the six man tag against the House of Black.
In regard to the Ryan Nemeth situation, one AEW talent believed that him being sent home may have been precipitated by Nemeth walking around and saying hello to everyone at the hotel before the taping but not stopping and saying hello to CM Punk and others Punk was with. The talent noted that several weeks ago, Punk had held a locker room meeting about trying to keep the Collision locker room as drama free as possible and that with Nemeth having knocked Punk on Twitter around the time he returned to the ring in Chicago for the Collision premiere, that would fly in the face of that.
As we noted yesterday, Punk and Nemeth had a conversation after that Tweet several months back and the belief among a source close to Nemeth was that the two sides were fine. However, the talent who witnessed Nemeth "blow off" Punk and his group (whether purposely or accidental the talent could not say) stated that they could see how Nemeth acting that way would set off Punk, given what he's tried to set in the Collision locker room. The source commented that they weren't defending Punk, but they could understand the cause and effect there. As we reported yesterday, AEW VP Pat Buck sent Nemeth home last Saturday, telling him he would be working Wednesdays instead.
In regard to the Christopher Daniels situation, as we speculated yesterday, it is 100% a situation where since Ace Steel is not allowed at Collision, Punk put his foot down and doesn't want Daniels there, with the idea that when the entire backstage fight happened, Daniels was on the Elite side of things. Punk obviously would want Steel backstage producing his matches, but that's not looking to happen anytime soon, so there's a logjam that needs to be cleared as Punk dug in on what he wants, which is what stars do.
A few readers have asked how this all feeds into the upcoming double-taping for Dynamite and Collision as well as upcoming PPVs. Well, one would hope everyone will at least steer clear of each other, but the best thing for the company and all involved (in my opinion) is for everyone to clear the air, admit their own fault in the situation and get back to making AEW and themselves as much money as possible. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, but that sounds a lot better than everyone waiting for the next incident to ignite another round of issues.
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