News

Top AEW Stars Don’t Want CM Punk Back

CM Punk smiling WWE

There are apparently top stars in AEW that definitely don’t want CM Punk to return to the company, according to a new report.

For the last week, CM Punk’s name has been back in the news following a report that Punk was looking to return to AEW. It is believed that Punk is all healed up or close to being healed up after tearing his triceps in September 2022.

Even though Punk got into a backstage fight at All Out in September 2022, he remains under contract to AEW with plenty of questions about what’s next for the former two-time AEW World Champion CM Punk

Following that report, CM Punk responded to some statements by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer on his message board. Punk would go on to call Chris Jericho a liar and a stooge while also taking shots at Jon Moxley and Meltzer, among others. Since then, Meltzer has said he felt bad about it.

All of this led to Wade Keller of the Pro Wrestling Torch talking about the situation while saying that several top stars in AEW don’t want Punk to come back to the company.

“For one, Jon Moxley and CM Punk do not like each other that much anybody I asked around will say that. It’s very clear. There’s a tension to a degree…certainly, they are not in a position now where anyone would predict that they would want to work together or if they would even feel comfortable working together on a promo or whatever.”

“From what I can gather…the sentiment is that he’s just not welcomed back. The wrestlers don’t want him back. The majority of wrestlers don’t want him back. I would go as far as even saying that my sources are saying the mass majority of wrestlers don’t want him back. One person said maybe one or two of the top third of the roster want him back….in top half. And then there are some younger guys who liked him. In terms of the top stars, the politics are not terribly among the top guys.”

“There’s some tension among the top guys, but it’s mostly, Punk doesn’t get along with Hangman, Punk doesn’t get along with Moxley, Punk doesn’t get along with Kenny, Punk doesn’t get along with the Bucks, Punk doesn’t get along with MJF. Actually, I’m not sure on the MJF thing, but I think the way things went down even that situation. it’s not as strong as it once was.”

As Keller continued, he mentioned that CM Punk going off on Instagram didn’t help Punk’s potential future in AEW.

“Him going off on Instagram really hurt the chances of him being welcomed back. One wrestler I talked to outright said that it might not matter what the wrestlers think if Tony Khan wants Punk back. Punk might be brought back.”

“My sense is that there would be something greater than a strong push back amongst top talent in AEW if Tony Khan tries to bring back Punk at this point. I think it would be difficult before Punk said what he said on Instagram. I think it’s going to be much more difficult now, but I don’t know if the odds of Tony wanting to bring back Punk have changed based on what Punk said.”

H/T Wrestlingnewsco