WWE Hall of Famer Supports CM Punk Returning to AEW

CM Punk's absence from all AEW programming has remained a mystery ever since the infamous "Brawl Out" incident last September. It was reported shortly afterward that Punk suffered a torn triceps in his most recent match, so he was going to be out of action until well into 2023 even without any kind of suspension for his involvement in the locker room brawl. There were also reports of AEW attempting to buy Punk out of the remaining years of his contract, though those seem to have fizzled out. And between his apparent fractured relationship with The Elite and other big AEW names like Chris Jericho, it seems like a Punk return wouldn't be well-received by a portion of the AEW locker room. 

But at least one legend is all for the idea. WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry was on Busted Open Radio this week and openly pushed for Punk to return as he's too beneficial to AEW's business. 

Mark Henry Supports AEW Bringing Back CM Punk

"If I was in charge, I would bring him back and I would bring him back with him saying to the wrestling world, not an apology, but just state the facts. 'Grown men will disagree and things will be said that probably shouldn't have been said and I regret airing my dirty laundry in front of the world. It won't happen again. Do we agree on everything? No. Can we work together and exist and have a business relationship? Yes. I will not let my personal feelings, my personal gripes, and concerns interfere with business again, because ultimately, the important thing is business and I am the business and business is good. AEW is better with me around,'" Henry explained (h/t WrestlingNews.co).

"When they were going through the NXT-AEW wars, those were the people that were foundationally that company. I can see them siding with the top guys in there," he later added. "They look at it as those are our guys. Everybody else that came in is great acquisitions to help the business go forward, but like you said, Jade Cargill, Will Hobbs, and FTR and certain people were like, 'Man, I don't give a sh*t what Punk did. I think he's good for business. He helped me. He mentored me It's good for business, but as you said, there are people that weren't raised in a regime in the way that we were raised. So they're going to have a clicky, our guy mentality, rather than listen, 'What does Tony want? What's good for business? What's going to make dollars? What's going to put asses in seats?' That's the ultimate thing."