Report: When CM Punk & Colt Cabana's Friendship Started To Fall Apart Revealed

CM Punk and Colt Cabana were best friends for many years but their friendship ended up falling apart in the aftermath of Punk's appearance on Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast in November 2014. 

The two friends ended up being sued by then-WWE doctor Chris Amann over Punk's comments on the podcast in a lawsuit that didn't go anywhere. Cabana would later sue Punk as he claimed the two-time AEW World Champion didn't keep his alleged promise of covering Cabana's legal bills. CM Punk countersued Cabana before they eventually agreed to dismiss both lawsuits. 

Their friendship collapsed over the Chris Amann lawsuit but Dave Meltzer reported more details on Wrestling Observer Radio about their fallout, stating the rift was caused by Cabana having pizza with Kevin Owens, PAC, and Sami Zayn while The Second City Saviours were being sued by a WWE employee in Amann. PAC was wrestling as Neville in WWE at a time, while Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn remain employed by WWE to this day. 

"Okay, so the show on Monday when we were talking about the irony of the Punk thing and the thing that started all of this, which was when Punk and Cabana had their falling out when Cabana went to the show. Anyways, I've been told that the story is essentially correct, but it wasn't...Cabana didn’t go to a WWE show. He actually went out for pizza with Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and PAC a couple of years ago and that's what caused the start of everything basically because he [Punk] felt that they shouldn't have contact with anyone in WWE because of the lawsuit. Cabana went for pizza with guys he's known on the independent scene for years and years and was good friends with," Meltzer said.

Cabana and Punk have not resolved their issues and the Art of Wrestling podcast had unintended consequences in 2022 as speculation within the AEW locker room suggested Punk was involved in Tony Khan's initial decision to not re-sign Colt Cabana. Following lobbying in the locker room, Cabana was re-signed but tensions within the AEW locker room continued to build until Punk called out Cabana, The Elite, and Hangman Page during his infamous post-All Out media scrum rant. Punk and Ace Steel then had a fight with Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks backstage which led to all five men being suspended. The Elite have since come back to AEW, while Punk will reportedly return on the inaugural episode of the rumoured new AEW TV show, Collision, on Saturday, June 17.

Cabana, meanwhile, works behind the scenes in AEW and he recently made his ROH in-ring return, unsuccessfully challenging Samoa Joe for the ROH World Television Championship. 

H/T to WrestlingNews.co