CM Punk appeared via video package on this week’s AEW Dynamite, marking the first time the former AEW World Champion has appeared on live AEW programming in any capacity since the Brawl Out incident last September. After highlighting Punk’s injury (he suffered a torn triceps in the same match where he won back the AEW title from Jon Moxley), he confirmed he’d be cutting a promo on the AEW Collision premiere before competing in the show’s main event (he’ll team with FTR to face Bullet Club Gold and Samoa Joe). He made no mention of the alleged locker room fight or the biting comments he made during the post-show press conference, which remains a big unanswered question heading into his return.
“The only thing that’s certain about CM Punk right now is that nothing is certain,” Punk said. “I’m coming back for the same reasons I came to AEW in the first place, I’ve got scores to settle. There’s still things left to do. Saturday, the 17th of June, Collision, the United Center. I won’t know what I’m going to do or say until I have that microphone in my hand. I have a lot of things to get off my chest.”
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In an interview with POST Wrestling earlier in the day, Tony Khan was asked whether or not Punk would address “the elephant in the room” upon his return — “It’s a great point. I think people are gonna want to hear from CM Punk, and people are gonna want to see him get involved in big matches, and jump into big stories. And I think definitely the rivalry between CM Punk and Samoa Joe — very interesting… Certainly though, people are always gonna go back to that rivalry between CM Punk and Samoa Joe.
“People have been talking about it, even before Samoa Joe arrived in AEW, and not long after that, CM Punk got injured… I do think this match is a huge main event, and people are gonna be very interested to see what happens. It’s very, very exciting for us to be able to put this match on the first episode of Collision on Saturday,” he added.
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