AEW Warned WBD Soft Roster Split Was Ending Before CM Punk’s Firing

AEW’s broadcast partners may have had warning that CM Punk was about to be fired.

The saga of CM Punk in AEW has now come to an end with the star being “terminated with cause effective immediately” as a result of his backstage altercation with Jack Perry at All In. Tony Khan announced the decision in a video message at the beginning of Collision and he also addressed an upset crowd in Chicago and in both instances noted that he felt his “life was in danger” backstage at All In.

The decision was made public on September 1st but it seems stakeholders were informed that a change was coming, including AEW’s US broadcast partner.

Andrew Zarian reported that AEW had already told Warner Bros Discovery that the soft roster split between Dynamite and Collision was coming to an end before the company made the public announcement that CM Punk was to be let go:

“WBD was told late this week that the soft roster split would be ending”

What next for AEW without CM Punk?

The soft roster split saw certain stars such as The Elite stick to Wednesday night Dynamite due to their own past run-in with Punk while he was the cornerstone of Saturday’s Collision show.

That split already seemed to be at an end on Saturday in Chicago with The Young Bucks making their debut on the show to save FTR from an attack from Bullet Club Gold.