At the Royal Rumble CM Punk made his grand televised in-ring return that would be cut short by an injury to his right tricep. After taking a DDT from Drew McIntyre, Punk would grab his arm and roll to the other side of the ring to talk to WWE officials. He appeared on WWE Raw last week to address his injury when he was interrupted by McIntyre who confessed he “prayed” for Punk to get injured. He would then viciously attack Punk’s arm.
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Punk underwent surgery on his torn tricep soon after, an injury he previously sustained while with AEW. Punk will be out of in-ring action four to six months while he heals and rehabilitates his injury. This will of course take him out of the equation for WrestleMania where it seemed likely that he’d face WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins.
Punk being sidelined is not stopping McIntyre from keeping up their storyline, though, which Punk promised they’d finish when he gets back. Following SmackDown, McIntyre wrestled Sami Zayn and when he made his entrance, he mocked Punk’s famous war cry.McIntyre has also posted a series of memes to his social media accounts following Raw, trolling the likes of Punk and Cody Rhodes. However, one in particular got a lot of attention from the WWE Universe. McIntyre photoshopped his face onto the famous Grant Gustin Oliver Quinn death Arrow meme and replaced the text on the headstone with “CM Punk’s WrestleMania Main Event, 2024-2024.” On WWE Raw, McIntyre revealed he had custom shirts made of the design, though it differs a bit from the original for copyright reasons.
With Punk out of the cards for WrestleMania, McIntyre is setting his sights on a marquee match for himself, determined to take his spot and get back the title shot he feels was taken away from him. On Raw, he inserted himself into the equation for a potential Seth Rollins vs. Rhodes World Heavyweight Title match that may or may not take place now that The Rock is in the picture. McIntyre is on an incredible heel run after being a lovable babyface for years. He made the official turn back in November following his title loss to Rollins at Crown Jewel. He briefly teamed up with the Judgment Day to take on team Rhodes at Survivor Series and has been a dominating force on WWE Raw ever since.
You can order McIntyre’s new shirt here.
