The anticipated return of CM Punk to AEW has been a hot topic of discussion among wrestling fans, with rumors of split crews and a potential new Saturday night show involving the former AEW World Champion as a featured star.
According to Dave Meltzer in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, a deal has yet to be finalized for the show or the potential Turner network it would air on. The original idea was for a two-hour show with star power equal to that of Dynamite.
However, there is currently only one Saturday, July 8th, for a “televised event” in Regina, Canada, with a start time of 7 PM Eastern. Meltzer noted that there could be exceptions to the split crews, such as pay-per-views or special events like AEW All In.
While news of a potential Punk return has intensified, Meltzer also mentioned that it remains a “tenuous situation” due to unresolved dressing room issues. Some of these issues came to a head during the post-All Out brawl involving Punk, Ace Steel, Kenny Omega, and the Young Bucks last September. Punk has been rehabbing a torn triceps suffered during that event against Jon Moxley and has not appeared on AEW programming since.
According to a recent report by Fightful, Punk has expressed a desire to work with The Elite (Omega and the Bucks) and has been pushing for a meeting with them for some time. A meeting between Punk and Chris Jericho is also said to be happening at some point.
