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Huge Revelation On Nixed CM Punk Plans

By Gaurav Singh • Published Jun 19, 2026 06:24 EDT
CM Punk tattoo
CM Punk (Source-WWE.com)

A massive revelation has been made regarding a scrapped plan for the former AEW and WWE World Champion, CM Punk.

In 2021, CM Punk made his return to pro wrestling through AEW after seven years of absence. He competed in multiple dream matches during his time in Tony Khan’s promotion. Punk also returned to WWE in 2023 and continues his great run there as one of the top guys.

While his time in All Elite Wrestling, CM Punk was also paired with Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler of the FTR tag team, and their trio was named ‘PunkFTR.’ Punk was once slated for a singles match with Wheeler, but the plans suddenly changed.

Speaking with LNG Productions, Cash Wheeler of FTR recalled that he was supposed to face CM Punk in a singles match in AEW once:

There’s been a couple times. Like I was supposed to wrestle Punk in a singles, but I wanna say it was right after we had the stuff with The Briscoes and The (Young) Bucks, I think.”

Wheeler further revealed that he wasn’t on board with the idea of facing Punk, so the plans were scrapped and Punk ended up wrestling Penta instead:

I was like I don’t know if me wrestling as a heel in a singles match is the way to follow up on all this stuff right now, and everyone agreed. I think he ended up wrestling Penta instead, that was probably the better call anyway because I think Penta’s a great performer.” [H/T WrestleTalk]

WWE legend made a big claim about CM Punk’s time in AEW

Speaking on the Extreme Life podcast recently, the WWE legend, Matt Hardy made a surprising claim about CM Punk’s time in All Elite Wrestling. Hardy said that Punk had a hold on Tony Khan to get away with anything in AEW:

I feel like when Punk was in AEW, he knew he had a hold on Tony Khan to a degree, that he could kind of get away with what he wanted. If he had something he was dead set on wanting to do, that he could kind of flex his muscles and he could get away with it. I think he could sniff that out of Tony, from Tony not being around and running a wrestling company for decades or years, whatever.”

Matt Hardy also claimed that CM Punk knows he couldn’t get away with the same attitude when he returned to the WWE.

Also read: Major Update On CM Punk’s WWE Future