CM Punk's return tentatively planned by AEW
CM Punk has expressed his willingness to return to AEW, and it seems like the pieces are being put into place for it to happen.
We will preface and follow this with the disclaimer that nothing is set in stone, and things can change as this is an often tumultuous situation.
Fightful Select had been getting hints after April 12’s report that Punk wanted to come back to AEW, that the wheels were already in motion. We were told shortly before the announcement of Chicago at Wintrust Arena that the June 21 episode of Dynamite would be interesting, and a date to look out for. What we’ve learned since then is as of April 13, the working plan has been for CM Punk to return at that show, or at the very least around it. There were also pitches of announcing it well ahead of time, even around the Warner Upfronts.
Those that we’ve spoken to confirmed that CM Punk has been hoping to work with Kenny Omega and Young Bucks, but we’ve heard of no contact between the two sides. The last we’d heard, The Elite were not keen on the possibility of working with him. AEW sources indicated that Punk had been trying to push for a meeting between everyone for quite a while, but we haven't heard if any progress had been made. It's worth noting that Young Bucks and Kenny Omega are in the middle of negotiating new contracts with AEW.
We’re told that there was also a meeting planned between CM Punk and Chris Jericho, who have had numerous issues in the past, to see if the two working together is a possibility.
There’s been a lot more traction within Warner Bros Discovery about an impending announcement of a prime time Saturday show being designed for a bit of a soft roster split to accommodate the preferences of talent who wanted to stay separate of the particular situations. Talent we’ve spoken to have heard the discussions about a new show, but haven’t heard about Punk’s possible impending return.
