Rumored WWE Opponent For CM Punk After Reportedly Wanting WWE Return At Royal Rumble 2023

AEW

CM Punk has now been fired with cause from All Elite Wrestling, just over two years after making his return to wrestling for the company.

Punk had been out of professional wrestling for seven years ahead of his AEW debut, with it being believed that he would be very unlikely to ever make a return to WWE in that time.

However, following last year’s AEW All Out media scrum altercation, Punk reportedly was open to the idea of a return to WWE, and more information has now come to light.

Punk was of course on the sidelines after All Out 2022, not just being suspended by AEW, but also because of a torn tricep.

During his time away, according to Fightful Select, people close to Punk have claimed be was open to the idea of leaving AEW so he could return to WWE.

Specifically, in December 2022, he was said to have “encouraged” the idea of leaving AEW and reportedly wanted to appear in the 2023 Royal Rumble.

There’s no word, however, that AEW even entertained the idea of letting Punk go, or if that WWE itself actually had any interest.

An idea that Punk was rumored to have had (emphasis on the “rumored” as this hasn’t been confirmed by Punk or his camp) that made its way to WWE talent was that he’d return at the Royal Rumble and go on to have a match at WrestleMania against the person who eliminated him.

The word in WWE was that the name thrown around for that role was Kevin Owens.

Fast forward to now, and Punk has been fired by AEW and obviously that opens the door to a potential WWE return.

With that said, there’s been no indication (that we know of) of any current interest between the two sides, and it’s also unknown if Punk has any kind of non-compete clause after his AEW exit, so we don’t know when he’d even be available to WWE.

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• cm punk
• Royal Rumble
• AEW
• wwe

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