Update On CM Punk’s Expected WWE Return – Reports
The legendary CM Punk is expected to be back on WWE television very soon.
CM Punk’s last WWE match was in the main event of WrestleMania 42, when he lost the World Heavyweight Title to Roman Reigns in a match many are calling the WWE match of the year, and one of the greatest WrestleMania main events ever.
One night later, Punk confronted former WWE Champion Cody Rhodes in the ring to tease a future match between them. Punk hasn’t been seen on WWE TV since then, nearly three months ago, but he did recently do commentary at a CFFC MMA event.
It has also been reported previously that CM Punk will likely be moving to SmackDown after being on Raw since he came back to WWE in November 2023.
In an update on CM Punk’s return, WrestleVotes on Fightful Select reports that the expectation is that CM Punk will return to Raw on Monday, July 6th in Chicago, which is where he lives.
Since Punk has a strong connection to Chicago, it makes sense to bring him back there, even though it’s a Raw show and there’s a plan to move him to SmackDown. The WWE brand split really isn’t that strict in this era.
There were rumors in the past about Punk possibly having issues with management, which could be why he was away, but those rumors were shot down and it’s just believed that he was granted time off since he worked a busy schedule over the last two years, and deserved a break.
CM Punk Was Worried WWE Would Change His Wrestling Name
When CM Punk signed with WWE in 2006 and debuted on television, he did so with the CM Punk name that he used in Ring of Honor, TNA and everywhere else he had wrestled prior to his WWE debut.
Recently, CM Punk talked about how the name has been with him since he was a teenager and he was surprsied that WWE let him keep it.
“So when I went and got trained, like I was wrestling in a backyard when I was 15 years old, I was CM Punk. That’s always been your—because Punk was my nickname. You know what I mean? Like I was a little punk kid. You know the older parents, ‘you little punk,’ you know? And instead, to me, I was like how is that insulting? Like I wore that like a badge, right? I was proud of that.
But when it came time to quote unquote go pro, you know, I find a training school, I get brought in the right way, broken in. And I’m trying to come up with a cool code name, you know what I mean? And my trainers looked at me, and they’re like, ‘What are you doing? You’re Punk. Just be Punk,’ right? And I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ I thought maybe I had to kind of leave that behind.
And then when I signed with WWE, I thought for sure that’s it. They’re going to change it. Because we do that sometimes. We changed people’s names, and I thought I was going to be an astronaut, or you know what I’m saying, like I don’t know what they were going to do with me. And somehow, I made it to television as CM Punk. You know, like I’m just fortunate that way, I suppose.”
The return of CM Punk on July 6th will likely lead to a match at SummerSlam on August 1 or 2 in Minneapolis, but the opponent at that show isn’t known yet.