CM Punk is looking to come back to AEW, according to the latest Fightful Select report from Sean Ross Sapp. Punk’s issues with AEW are well-documented — the scathing comments he made in the post-show press conference after the All Out pay-per-view and subsequent locker room brawl with Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks resulted in him getting stripped of the AEW World Championship and effectively scrubbed from AEW programming, and he’s still been recovering from a torn triceps he suffered in his most recent match. But Sapp echoed previous sentiments made by Dax Harwood in that Punk still has “the wrestling bug” and has repeatedly told AEW officials he wants to return to the promotion.
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Sapp also noted that Punk is open to working either with Kenny Omega & The Bucks (aka The Elite) or completely separate from them. It’s unclear how the three AEW EVPs feel about that.
“However, we’ve heard that at least as of a few months ago, Omega and Bucks didn’t seem keen on doing that, for obvious reasons. We’re not sure if that’s changed as AEW has progressed on landing new deals with them,” Sapp wrote. Other wrestlers like Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho have voiced their opposition to Punk’s return, with the latter going so far as to call him a “locker room cancer.”
Meanwhile, Harwood has been openly pushing for Punk to return so he and FTR can face Omega and The Bucks in a six-man tag match at AEW’s upcoming All In pay-per-view at Wembley Stadium. With a capacity of 90,000, AEW will need all the must-see matches it can get its hands on.
“CM Punk and FTR versus the Elite,” Harwood recently pitched on his podcast. “That’s got to be it, right? If you want to sell 50,000 tickets and take this company to the next level, that’s it, that’s me dreaming. That’s the dream match. That six-man tag in Wembley Stadium could help launch AEW to the next level.”
Do you think Punk will ever compete inside an AEW ring again? Can he and The Elite bury the hatchet to produce to major grudge matches? Tell us your thoughts down in the comments and stay tuned for more updates as they become available!
