Backup plan for AEW Collision premiere location revealed if CM Punk isn't returning

The well-known original plan had been for the show to take place at the United Center in Chicago and play host to the big return of CM Punk.
However, things look to have fallen apart again, as Punk and AEW are in disagreement over the future of Ace Steel.
Steel was reportedly rehired by AEW months ago, but the decision was made that he won’t be allowed to actually attend AEW shows in person backstage.
CM Punk wants Steel to be able to be backstage at Collision tapings, hence the falling out.

This disagreement led to Punk being removed from all the promotional material for Collision at the last-minute, and the idea of him returning looks to be on the ropes.
Tony Khan appeared on AEW Dynamite this week and announced upcoming dates and locations for Collision, but did not announce the location of the premiere on June 17, instead saying that’ll be announced next week.
Basically, the idea seems to be that Khan has given himself an extra week to figure out whether to commit to it being in Chicago or not – also known as, is Punk going to return or not.

On Wrestling Observer Radio today, Dave Meltzer reported that AEW is working on booking its spiritual home Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida as a backup option.
He said:
“They do have the United Center booked. They are working on booking Daily’s Place. In Daily’s Place, people have been told it’s a backup plan – it’s not the ‘A plan’. So Chicago is still in place.
“So I think that the basic thing is, they either settle it and he announces the United Center and Punk is back, or they don’t, and if they don’t, I think, from my standpoint, I think that that’s gotta be it (Punk isn’t coming back).
“You should never say that because it’s never it. But this was a real bad situation, they way it went down.”

Even if Khan does go with Daily’s Place, there would still be a couple of weeks to reconcile with Punk so it’s not impossible Punk could return there, but if the United Center is announced, it pretty much means, barring another bust-up, Punk is confirmed to be back.
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