Folks, it's officially official: CM Punk has been removed as AEW World Champion.

Now, as you may or may not know, this has been a long time coming, as Punk has been on a tear since he returned to AEW in August and the tension surrounding the situation reached a fever pitch during the media scrum for All Out, where, after winning back the AEW World Championship from Jon Moxley in the main event, he went off on Colt Cabana, “Hangman” Adam Page, and The Elite EVPs. Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson approached Punk in his locker room shortly thereafter, and the conversation rapidly broke out into a full-blown brawl, with Ace Steel reportedly throwing a steel chair at Nick's face before biting “The Cleaner.”

Though we don't know the exact status of every member of the brawl, as Christopher, Daniels, Pat Buck, and other front office professionals were also reportedly suspended as the company allows a third-party to conduct an independent investigation, this news is a huge deal for the immediate future of AEW and could impact Khan's long-term booking plans throughout the remainder of the calendar year.

After over half a decade away from professional wrestling, Punk returned to AEW in August of 2021 at a Rampage episode broadcast from the United Center in Chicago. He wrestled Darby Allin in his first match back and, after a compelling program with MJF that concluded in a Dog Collar match win at Revolution 2022, successfully challenged the “Hangman” for his AEW belt at Double or Nothing. Though his title reign was halted due to a foot injury on the fallout episode of Dynamite post-DoN, Punk lost and then regained the belt from Jon Moxley over a two-week period from August 24th and September 7th, making him the second-ever two-time champion in the promotion's history.