AEW: The Latest on CM Punk's Forbidden Door 2023 Match

By Connor Casey

CM Punk made his AEW in-ring return on Saturday night at the AEW Collision premiere, beating Jay White, Juice Robinson and Samoa Joe in a six-man tag match alongside FTR. Punk cut a promo at the start of the show that nodded toward his backstage issues with Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks, then hinted at having one more match with MJF over the AEW World Championship he technically never lost. However, there was no mention of what Punk might be doing at Forbidden Door one week from today as AEW and New Japan host their latest annual crossover event. 

Punk was originally booked for the inaugural show in 2022 in an AEW World Championship match with Hiroshi Tanahashi but his foot injury resulted in him stepping away from AEW TV for a couple of months. Tanahashi will have another shot at the AEW World title when he challenges MJF this year, while Punk has been consistently linked to Kenta in recent backstage rumors. The current Strong Openweight Champion has kept the speculation going on Twitter but emphasizes he'd only do the match for a significant amount of money. Based on his recent tweets, it sounds like the match is off. 

Fightful Select recently reported that the match was being discussed, though Punk has publicly shot down the idea in interviews over the years. The two have a shared history as Punk adopted Kenta's Go To Sleep finisher in the mid-2000s.

Punk finally gave his first interview since last year's "Brawl Out" incident this week when he sat down with ESPN. He confirmed in the interview that he never legitimately considered leaving AEW.

"I certainly had some low moments, and I won't rule out in those fleeting moments where I just say, 'Ah, f--k this, whatever,' but I don't ever think it was a serious intention to say that I'm done," Punk told the outlet. "There's still work to do, and I think I'm excited about a lot of stuff that's coming up. So, to just throw the baby out with the bathwater, just because of a little boo-boo, I think would be a little silly."

AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 Card (As of Now)

  • AEW World Champion: MJF vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • IWGP United States Championship: Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay
  • IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Sanada vs. "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry
  • Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada
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