Dave Meltzer is reporting that Hangman Page is not the only wrestler to have been booked and then asked to leave from recent AEW Collision shows.
Meltzer noted in Sunday's
Daily Update that Page had been booked to film a pre-tape interview for Dynamite at the Greensboro (North Carolina) Coliseum this past Saturday but when he arrived, Page was told they would have to do the segment away from the building.
Meltzer addressed the backstage issues in AEW further on
Wrestling Observer Radio, stating that similar situations involving Matt Hardy and Christopher Daniels have occurred as well. He also confirmed a report from Fightful Select that Ryan Nemeth has been sent home from shows recently too.
While not explicitly stated by Meltzer, the common denominator is CM Punk who has had his issues with Page and addressed the former AEW World Champion
in an off-air promo Saturday that did nothing to quell matters between them as his comments were not part of any angle.
"Everyone believes that it's Punk. I'm sure that Tony (Khan) will say it's not Punk, just like he did before," Meltzer said.
Nemeth and Punk's issues stem from Nemeth tweeting "Literally the softest man alive” following Punk's return promo where he mockingly apologized to fans of The Elite where he said, "I am sorry that the only people softer than you are the wrestlers you like." Nemeth has since deactivated his Twitter account.
"Punk confronts (Nemeth) on June 17th in Chicago his first night back," Meltzer said on WOR. "Something happened. I was told it was all settled, it wasn't a big deal. Obviously, it was not all settled."
"What ends up happening because one's a star and one is not a star is that Ryan Nemeth wasn't booked after that point.
"For whatever reason, (Nemeth) was supposed to come back last night in Greensboro, came in and then was told - however the story goes - all of a sudden, people find out that he's there and then he's told not to go to the building after he was booked. So, he was never at the building, nobody saw him at the building but he was there."
"Matt Hardy was booked on a Saturday, went there, and then was told not to go to the building after he got there. That was not last night, but Matt Hardy was one of them. Christopher Daniels, who had been working with Matt Sydal as a tag team in Ring of Honor, for whatever reason, same thing happened with him. He's not supposed to go on Saturdays and he's frickin' head of talent relations. There may be others, but those are the ones that I know of that have been happening too," Meltzer continued.
Nick Hausman is
reporting that Nemeth and Daniels being sent home from Collision were a direct result of conflicts with Punk.
"Notably, Christopher Daniels’ involvement in the post-AEW All Out altercation was specifically portrayed to us as the reason The Fallen Angel is not at Collision," Hausman wrote. "Since Ace Steel, Punk’s good friend, was also involved in the altercation but not allowed to return backstage for Collision, Punk is said to feel the same about Daniels and does not want him backstage either."
As for Nemeth, Punk is said to feel that his "softest man alive" Tweet shows he is willing to unnecessarily cause drama backstage and Punk doesn't want that at Collision tapings.
