As we all know by now, CM Punk & Colt Cabana recently walked out of their defamation lawsuit against WWE’s Dr. Chris Amann with a verdict in their favor, but now Cabana is suing Punk for $200,000 in general damages plus $1M in punitive and exemplary damages. Dave Meltzer noted on a recent edition of The Wrestling Observer Radio Program that Cabana turning on Punk was something WWE had probably hoped for during the trial.
Meltzer also said that the reason Cabana was put through the legal process along with Punk was probably because WWE wanted him to turn on Punk. Of course, Cabana didn’t leave Punk’s team, although he later got his own counsel. Meltzer also noted that WWE “didn’t care about Cabana,” because Punk was the primary target of the lawsuit.
According to the paperwork filed on August 7th by Cabana’s attorney, Punk assured Cabana that he would be “100% clear” from any trouble brought on by a lawsuit from Amann including legal fees. Cabana claims that Punk failed to keep that promise and he now has unpaid legal bills totaling $513,736. Punk asked Cabana to pay half of the legal fees, which would be $256,868, allegedly saying, “You are on your own.”
“To date I have spent $513,736 dollars on this Amman [sic] lawsuit,” Punk wrote in an email, according to Cabana. “My outstanding current bill is at least 300K. Half of all this is yours. Divide the 513,736 by 2 and that is what you owe me and what I expect you to pay me. Starting now I will no longer be paying your bills. You are on your own. Whatever my bill is currently, will be cut in half, and half will be yours. If you choose to make this all ugly, that’s fine too. I hope you won’t, but I gave up on you doing what is right a long time ago.”
Although Cabana didn’t betray Punk during the trial, it was said that their friendship had a falling-out beforehand. The two spoke to each other during the trial because they were on the same side, but there is still a personal issue between the two former friends.
There were even rumors that Punk was upset with Cabana because he went to a WWE show. Punk reportedly felt that he shouldn’t be so friendly with a company responsible for suing them, no matter who Cabana was visiting backstage. Punk and Cabana stopped following each other on social media in September of 2016. On March 10th, 2017, Cabana believes that Punk caused his attorney to withdraw as Cabana’s counsel in the Amann lawsuit.
An out of court settlement is still possible in Cabana’s lawsuit against Punk. Meltzer said at this point, Punk and Cabana have spent around $500,000 in legal bills, and regardless of who is responsible for them, neither of them would likely want to enter another trial.