More CM Punk Drama Expected Before AEW Collision Debut, Details On “Polarizing” Interview

A new report indicates that CM Punk is nowhere near done making waves ahead of his AEW Collision return.

Back in April, it was reported that CM Punk was on his way back to AEW for the first time since participating in his now-infamous brawl with The Elite at All Out. At the time, it was expected that he would be central to the company announcing its new Saturday night program called AEW Collision.

However, when the official Collision announcement was made in May, Punk’s name was nowhere to be seen, despite being part of the original promotional materials. It soon emerged that he was once again at odds with the company over the return of Ace Steel, his friend and trainer who was fired as a result of the All Out brawl. It later emerged that the company had hired Steel months ago, but changed its mind when it came to the creative team member returning to the road for Collision.

After weeks of doubt, though, Tony Khan announced on the May 31st episode of Dynamite that the debut of Collision would indeed feature the return of CM Punk. The next week, Khan revealed that Punk would be in action on the show, teaming with FTR to take on the team of Jay White, Juice Robinson, and ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe.

Speaking on his most recent PWTorchVIP.com audio show, journalist Wade Keller indicated that drama surrounding Punk was far from over. While details were few and far between, Keller indicated that it would be “one of those weeks,” saying:

“I am under the impression between now and Saturday, there’s going to be something that comes out that media wise that is not gonna help matters, probably. I don’t mean to be cryptic but I haven’t heard the details or seen enough to say much but yea, I just don’t know. I just think it’s gonna be one of those weeks, I’ll put it that way…From what I’m hearing behind the scenes in AEW, it’s just gonna be one of those weeks.” (h/t WrestlingNews.co)

A report from Fightful Select added further details, noting that Punk recorded an ESPN interview last week that’s set to drop on Friday, June 16th. Last week, Fightful were told that Punk “wasn’t thrilled with working with KENTA and he may come across badly in an interview,” and now they’ve learned that this was in reference to the ESPN interview dropping tomorrow.

In addition, Fightful reports that a number of topics will be covered in the interview, including discussion about The Elite. Word of mouth backstage in AEW was that some of that didn’t go over well based on second-hand tellings.

According to the report, AEW set up and monitored the interview, but it was conducted in a way as to blur the lines between storyline and reality. Punk was said to be aware of the fact that he would come off as polarizing.

TJRWrestling.net will be sure to report once the interview with CM Punk becomes publicly available.