Update On Who Pushed For CM Punk’s AEW Return

The AEW return of CM Punk is coming soon as the company begins a new Saturday night show and a new report has more information about who pushed for it.

For the first time since the AEW All Out pay-per-view in September 2022 in Chicago, former two-time AEW World Champion CM Punk is expected to be back on AEW TV in June.

That night at All Out was big for a couple of reasons due to the backstage fight that saw Punk battling against The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson). Punk’s friend and AEW Producer Ace Steel fought with Punk, which led to Steel getting fired due to him biting Omega and throwing a chair that gave Nick a black eye. The Elite were off for nearly two months after that while AEW never announced a suspension for Punk because they never had to.

The reason AEW never announced a suspension for Punk is that CM Punk also suffered a torn triceps during his match with Jon Moxley at All Out. That required surgery and a long layoff that kept Punk on the shelf for about eight months, which means he’s healed by now.

Over the last week, word has come out that AEW was planning to bring back CM Punk in June when they launch a new Saturday night wrestling show named Collision. This week in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer wrote that “the return of CM Punk is scheduled for a 6/17 show at the United Center in Chicago.”

In addition to that, Dave Meltzer confirmed that the decision to bring back Punk to AEW was made a few weeks back with Warner Bros. Discovery, the company that owns TBS & TNT where AEW programming airs, pushing for Punk to return.

“The decision on Punk returning was made many weeks ago, although there was a snag two weeks back that has evidently been worked out.”

“Multiple people have said that WBD wanted Punk back as the star of the new Saturday show, although others have been told differently. We do know that he was extremely important in this deal but whether the deal was incumbent on him, we’ve hard both ways.”

“One person outside the company has seen correspondence indicating that WBD definitely wanted him back and other things that have happened in recent weeks very much behind-the-scenes have indicated to us that Punk being back is, if nothing else, very significant in everything.”

As he continued, Meltzer noted that bringing back CM Punk in a spot like this is something that most wrestling promoters would do.

“The reality is from a business standpoint if AEW is getting only what WBD usually pays for first-run programming for this show, and Punk is at least a part in getting the deal, I’m not saying the Punk deal is something they had to make. But it’s a deal that every single promoter in history would have tried to make.”

While some fans may be happy about CM Punk’s AEW return, others may not be thrilled, but the reality is that it’s happening in about two months’ time on AEW Collision in Chicago.