CM Punk is stepping back in a WWE ring for the first time in nearly a decade. The Second City Saint ended his nine-year sabbatical from sports-entertainment land this past November, shocking his hometown crowd when he emerged as a post-credits cameo of sorts at WWE Survivor Series. In the weeks since, Punk has made his comeback goal clear: main-event WWE WrestleMania. Headlining the Showcase of the Immortals has long been documented as the one thing Punk wanted to accomplish during his original WWE run, as this return gives him a second chance to do just that.
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Punk’s most probable dance partner for a headlining ‘Mania match is WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, but before he can get a shot at the champ, Punk needs to win the Men’s Royal Rumble, and in order to be successful there, Punk needs to get his feet wet. That comes later this month when he takes on Dominik Mysterio at a WWE live event at Madison Square Garden.
CM Punk Teases AEW Gear For WWE Comeback Match
Is CM Punk bringing back the tights?
Taking to his Instagram Stories in a now-deleted post, Punk shared an image of his black tights with red Chicago flag stars and blue trimming. Punk captioned the photo “LFG” and tagged the official accounts for WWE and Madison Square Garden.
These tights were first seen at AEW All Out 2021 during Punk’s AEW debut match against Darby Allin. This was Punk’s first wrestling match since walking out of WWE in January 2014. He donned the “long bois” on a couple of other occasions, notably debuting a white version of them the following year at AEW All Out 2022. Tights were just one of many different types of gear Punk used while in AEW, as he also rocked his traditional trunks as well as fight shorts.
“It’s business as usual. It happens,” AEW star Chris Jericho said of CM Punk’s WWE return. “It’s the same reason why I’m sure there wasn’t a big reaction when Adam Copeland came to AEW or when Will Ospreay signed with AEW or when Danielson, Moxley, and Adam Cole came to AEW. It’s good for the business that guys have the ability to go between companies. It’s great for the fans and it’s great for the talent overall. It just makes the business stronger and that’s the most important thing.”
CM Punk vs. Dominik Mysterio goes down on December 26th at Madison Square Garden.
