AEW Has Plans in Motion for CM Punk's Return (Report)

By Connor Casey

CM Punk is on his way back to AEW, according to a new report from Fightful Select's Sean Ross Sapp that dropped on Thursday. Sapp previously reported on Wednesday that Punk had reached out to AEW expressing his desire to return and his willingness to either work with or completely separate from The Elite. The same report stated Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks were against the idea a few months ago, but noted that could have changed as negotiations on their own new contracts had progressed

The new report states the current plan is for Punk to return either at or around the June 21 episode of AEW Dynamite at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago. The idea of Punk's return being announced ahead of time has also been pitched internally. 

As for the Punk/Omega/Bucks relationship, Sapp wrote that there's been no contact between the two sides but that Punk has been trying to set up a meeting with all four. There was also reportedly a meeting planned between Punk and Chris Jericho, who has openly criticized Punk in the past as a "locker room cancer." There's no word yet on if that meeting has taken place and Sapp reiterated that plans within the company can always change.

Punk first arrived in AEW on Aug. 20, 2021, on the "The First Dance" special episode of AEW Rampage inside Chicago's United Center. He then went on to compete in 23 matches, including the main event of Double or Nothing 2022 when he beat Adam "Hangman" Page for the AEW Championship. Unfortunately, a broken foot resulted in Punk having to step away from in-ring competition, resulting in Jon Moxley becoming the new Interim AEW World Champion. Punk returned months later, only to lose a unification match with Moxley in just three minutes on the Aug. 24, 2022 episode of Dynamite. He then won the rematch at All Out the following month but suffered a torn triceps during the match. 

That, combined with the explosive comments he made during the post-show scrum and the locker room brawl that included Omega, The Bucks and now-former AEW coach Ace Steel resulted in Punk getting stripped of the AEW title and scrubbed from all AEW programming. It was initially reported that AEW was trying to buy Punk out of the remaining years of his contract but that there was a hang-up involving a "no-compete" clause. 

Meanwhile, Omega and The Bucks eventually returned from suspension before the end of 2022. But outside of a few winking nods during matches and on Being The Elite, the three (and Khan) have refrained from going into detail about what happened backstage after All Out.

Related:

"There are things no one can talk about, so I'd encourage people to let it go," Omega told Sports Illustrated in November. "It doesn't change that we want a team effort in AEW. I don't even mean implicitly myself and my opponent. It also means the referee, the fans, the people who set up the ring, everyone--even a technical error can ruin the memory of a match. I can refer back to the exploding barbed wire death match. So I encourage people to move away from it because there is no information to be released. Though I cannot talk about it, I do want the fans to know I still want the best for pro wrestling."

 "This isn't Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks against CM Punk. It is people trying to show off their craft. You can boo Kenny Omega, or the Young Bucks, or CM Punk, but I hope people don't forget we're human beings struggling to show our art," he added.

Trending Now: