CM Punk Teases NXT Deadline Appearance

WWE NXT will host its final PLE of the year NXT Deadline out of Bridgeport, Connecticut tonight and it appears that recent WWE re-signing CM Punk may make an appearance. 

Punk took to his Instagram where he shared a photo of himself outside of the new WWE headquarters. Punk tagged the NXT Instagram in a story that reads, “Missed my flight today. Woke up in Bridgeport. Anything to do here?” Punk has yet to sign with a specific WWE brand, popping up on both SmackDown and Raw since his shocking return at Survivor Series. Punk will visit WWE Raw in Cleveland, Ohio this Monday to meet with Adam Pearce who is interested in signing him, much to Seth Rollins’ annoyance. In an in-ring promo from last night’s SmackDown, Punk addressed many factors (including his return promo that many viewed as lackluster) and he let fans know that he has a meeting scheduled with NXT’s booker, Shawn Michaels. Michaels took to Twitter to mention Punk and ask him to meet in person instead of over the phone.

In the past, Michaels was one of the only people WWE-adjacent that spoke up about a possible Punk return after his firing from AEW, noting that he’d “love” to work with him in NXT, something that they didn’t get to do much and that he “understood” him. “He’s a different kind of cat and, you know, could sometimes be challenging, to get along with people. But, again, I think that’s probably why I like him because I suffer from the same thing. That’s for people to decide that are higher up on the food chain than I am,” Michaels said on the NXT No Mercy media call. He’s a guy that does numbers and makes money, I think that would be a risk-reward ratio. I’m sure from a company standpoint they’ve had to consider. When it comes to, if we would take him in ‘NXT’ and have him on our television, are you kidding me? Of course, I would. I just don’t think anybody would let me.”

Will CM Punk Appear in NXT?

While highly unlikely that he will appear in NXT full-time, the appeal of Punk in NXT, something that he only appeared on a handful of times, is certainly intriguing to say the least. There are plenty of dream match scenarios on the main roster — WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens, Randy Orton — and Punk addressed a lot of them on SmackDown last night. But there’s an entire crop of talent in NXT that could benefit from working with someone like Punk, stars like Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Ilja Dragunov, Dominik Mysterio and longtime Punk fan, Cora Jade. Many major WWE Superstars have appeared in NXT as of late, including John Cena, WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker, WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley, and Becky Lynch.

WWE NXT Deadline Card:

• WWE NXT Championship Match: Ilja Dragunov (c) vs Baron Corbin
• Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge Match: Dijak vs Trick Williams vs Josh Briggs vs Bron Breakker vs Tyler Bate
• Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge Match: Tiffany Stratton vs Lash Legend vs Blair Davenport vs Kelani Jordan vs Fallon Henley
• North American Championship Match: Dominik Mysterio (c) vs Dragon Lee
• Steel Cage Match: Roxanne Perez vs Kiana James
• Carmelo Hayes vs Lexis King

 NXT Deadline is live on Peacock in the U.S. and the WWE Network elsewhere tonight at 8 p.m. EST.