Watch: CM Punk Cuts Another Promo Backstage After AEW Dynamite

By Connor Casey

AEW released a new backstage promo on Thursday featuring CM Punk, FTR and Ricky Starks to help build their eight-man tag match with Jay White, Juice Robinson and The Gunns this Saturday on AEW Collision. The promo kicks off with Punk specifically calling out Jay White, saing people have called a match between the two "a dream." But Punk disagrees — "You pick on my friends in Chicago, you want to fight my friends in Chicago? Trust me, that's not a dream, it's a nightmare" The other three men then all said their piece to hype up the match. So while many saw Punk's return promo on last week's AEW Collision as a sign of a heel turn, he's still positioning himself as a babyface for the immediate future. 

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"CM Punk spoke his mind in the opening segment, and it set up for a very compelling main event. We saw CM Punk prove in the ring that he's still got it," Tony Khan said on Busted Open Radio this week regarding Punk's return promo. "He went out there with FTR and they went nearly 30 minutes with Samoa Joe, Juice Robinson, and Jay White, three of the best. I believe the fans were so happy to see CM Punk back in wrestling, so happy to hear that he still has that sharp wit, and I believe the match itself delivered. It was a great main event. The fans are so happy to have CM Punk back in pro wrestling and in AEW."

As for Sunday's Forbidden Door pay-per-view, Punk will face former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima in an opening-round match for the Owen Hart Invitational Tournament. Despite being the AEW World Tag Team Champions, FTR doesn't currently have a match on the card even though the pair managed to win the IWGP Tag Team Championships at last year's show. 

AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 Card 

  • IWGP United States Championship: Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson
  • AEW World Championship: MJF vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Sanada vs. "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry
  • AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy vs. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Daniel Garcia
  • Owen Hart Cup: CM Punk vs. Satoshi Kojima
  • AEW Women's World Championship: Toni Storm vs. Willow Nightingale 
  • Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta), Konosukta Takeshita & Shota Umino vs. The Elite (Hangman Page & The Young Bucks), Eddie Kingston & Tomohiro Ishii
  • Sting, Darby Allin & TBA vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki
  • Adam Cole vs. Tom Lawlor
  • Owen Hart Cup: Athena vs. Billie Starkz (Zero Hour)

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