CM Punk was reportedly involved in an altercation following the conclusion of the All Out pay-per-view. During the post-AEW All Out media scrum, CM Punk blasted Colt Cabana, Hangman Page, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. Punk utterly buried Page and Cabana in particular while blaming the Bucks and Omega for being incompetent EVPs. AEW has suspended Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Pat Buck, Chris Daniels, Michael Nakazawa, and Brandon Cutler following the backstage fight. Ace Steel was recently released as well. Now, it seems AEW is reportedly trying to buy out CM Punk’s contract to refrain him from returning.
CM Punk heading to WWE?
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was reported that AEW is currently in talks to buy out CM Punk’s contract so that he won’t return to the company.
Those with close knowledge of the situation said they are in talks with Punk about a buy-out of the remaining years of his contract which tells you that they are not looking to bring him back. The hold-up right now is said to be the non-compete period.
Obviously if the non-compete is an issue, it’s about interest in going to WWE because there’s no need for a non-compete otherwise because nobody else but AEW and WWE can pay him close to what he was making. There are those in WWE who have been very negative towards him in the past, but it is a wrestling war and the optics of looking publicly like they have taken Punk from AEW would be very significant.
There has been speculation about the former AEW World Champion’s possible WWE return. Dave Meltzer spoke on the topic recently and confirmed that Punk has not been in touch with anyone from WWE. However, it was noted that Punk has an excellent relationship with Adam Pearce and Paul Heyman, who seem to have some degree of backstage power in WWE.
The controversial superstar has not contacted anybody from WWE, though his close ties to Pearce and Heyman spark some hope of an unlikely comeback. Here’s what was reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
“It is said that nobody from WWE has had any actual contact with Punk and Guy, but Punk is close with Adam Pearce, who has some pull there, and Punk in the past has been extremely close to Paul Heyman, who also is someone that the higher-ups seem to listen to a lot,” noted Meltzer.
