https://archive.is/OPkbUToday marks two full weeks since AEW owner and CEO Tony Khan publicly announced that CM Punk had been fired by the company, "with cause," due to a backstage incident involving Punk and Jack Perry during All In at London's Wembley Stadium one week earlier. Despite initial reports that Punk might issue an "explosive response," to being let go, he has since stayed silent on anything to do with the subject. That silence ended last night, at least somewhat. Punk returned to his occasional gig of doing color commentary for Caged Fury Fighting Championships on Friday, and he and broadcast partner John Morgan made several clear references to the incident at All In.
First, Morgan introduced Punk by saying "look who I ran into backstage," and adding that Punk was back on commentary "with cause." Later in the broadcast, Punk suggested the commentary team do a post-fight show, to which he was asked by another colleague if he had time on his hands, and Punk responded "yeah, I got some time on my hands, for the next two months." At one point, Morgan also playfully mentioned that he and Punk had some things to discuss, and Punk replied with "what do you wanna talk about," in an equally playful manner.
Nothing is known publicly about whether or not Punk has a noncompete clause with AEW following his firing that would prevent him from working for WWE or any other wrestling company for a certain period of time. That said, Punk's comment about having two months on his hands has unsurprisingly already led to rampant fan speculation that after that time, he will be free to return to wrestling. Furthering that speculation is the fact that in just over two months, WWE is in Chicago for Survivor Series, although knowing Punk's penchant for messing with the internet, he may well just be trolling fans on purpose.
