CM Punk has been out of action since a surgery-requiring foot injury put him on the shelf back in early June. Many fans assumed AEW was setting up Punk for a heel turn following his AEW World Championship victory at Double or Nothing, given how his programs with Eddie Kingston, MJF and Hangman Page all centered around his opponents not believing he was capable of being a good person. But Punk addressed that heel turn possibility in a new interview with Screen Rant and seemingly shot down the idea, arguing it’d be a “waste.”
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“I think I have a currency with the audience just having been around for so long, coming from the Indies, going to the old WWF, and you know being around the block. Leaving, coming back after seven years, there’s a connection that I have,” Punk said. “I don’t necessarily enjoy being a good guy. I feel like it’s hard work. It’s a lot easier to get people to dislike you. But I feel you’d be it would be wasteful to, as I said, just discard this currency that I have with the audience because it is, I feel, a special connection.
“You know, they’re chanting my name for seven years. I came back. They’re still stoked about it. So I feel like every time I’m in the ring is special to me and I don’t want to squander that, and I feel like it’s just a giant party with a bunch of your friends, you know? I just want to have a good time with them,” he continued.ย
Early advertising for AEW’s All Out pay-per-view in early September seems to be pointing at Punk returning from injury to face Jon Moxley in a unification match for the two AEW World Championships. He provided an injury update elsewhere at San Diego Comic-Con.ย
“It’s healing. It’s not healed. It feels like it’s on fire every day, partly probably because of how much you know I was on my feet all day yesterday,” Punk toldย Skewed and Reviewed. “I just don’t wear the boot, but that’s mostly because I want people to recognize that I don’t want them near my foot. I’m working hard to come back; It’s just, it’s a shitty injury you know, not being able to walk and like my entire calf on that side kind of shut down so learning how to walk again is fucking frustrating, but I’m better than I was yesterday, I’ll be better tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll see everybody soon.”
