Legal Issues Remain Ahead Of CM Punk’s AEW Return

CM Punk is set to return soon, but there are still apparently plenty of “legal issues” that AEW is dealing with regarding the past.

The return of the former two-time AEW World Champion CM Punk is coming very soon as AEW has plans to announce their new Saturday night TV show called Collision. The first episode of Collision is expected to be on Saturday, June 17th in Chicago with Punk set to return on that night.

This past Wednesday on AEW Dynamite, Owner Tony Khan teased yet another major announcement for next week, which is expected to be the Collision debut. Whether Punk specifically announces Punk on the show is unknown at this point.

When CM Punk does return to AEW TV on Collision it will be his first time on AEW programming since the AEW All Out pay-per-view in September 2022, which was an eventful night for him. It was the night when Punk won the AEW World Title from Jon Moxley, tore his triceps during the match, went on a press conference rant and got into a backstage fight with The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks).

In that fight at All Out, CM Punk was joined by his friend and the now former AEW Producer Ace Steele, who was fired after the incident. Steele threw a chair that gave Nick Jackson of the Young Bucks a black eye and also bit Kenny Omega in the arm during the fight.

All of that happened over eight months ago and CM Punk is expected to be healed from the torn triceps surgery he had last September.

As for what’s next, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter wrote that “nothing has changed” in terms of people apologizing while Meltzer alluded to somebody unnamed wanting to apologize, but they aren’t allowed to make contact. There are also apparently some legal issues in play.

“Regarding the questions everyone asks about the internal stuff and people making up and working together, nothing has changed. There are a number of different legal issues still ongoing and in play and nobody is allowed to publicly talk or contact the other side or talk about any of the issues. From someone near the top, they are no closer to any resolutions than they have been, but things are more reasonable.”

“At least one person is willing to apologize and has wanted to for a while but is not allowed to make any contact. This isn’t Punk, as we don’t know one way or the other what he’s willing to do. Another person on that side also said that they believe that apologies are in order, but more than one, that Punk should be the first but not the only one.”

As for what happens when CM Punk returns to AEW, it has been reported that Punk wants to feud with Samoa Joe, an old friend from the Ring of Honor days in the mid-2000s. However, it’s not known if AEW is really going to do that as a feud. We will have to see when Punk returns to AEW TV next month.