Five years have passed since CM Punk walked out on the WWE and wrestling in general and yet his fans are still optimistic that the former WWE Champion will someday walk back into the squared circle. AEW’s emergence has given fans another reason to believe this despite the fact that Punk has repeatedly and publicly announced that he doesn’t intend to work for the promotion.
However, Cody Rhodes, one of Punk’s good friends, told Comicbook.com in an interview that if somewhere down the line Punk decides to lace up his boots once again then AEW’s door will be wide open for him.
Last year something with All In that we noticed is that at the actual show there wasn’t a single CM Punk chant. Great, OK. It’s not that they don’t like Punk, but they know that we’re here and we’re putting on this show.’ This year I don’t expect anything different. I’ve been very honest about that door remains opened. The fans have never given up on CM Punk and if he wanted to be part of AEW we would do everything in our power to make him part of it.
However, Rhodes then clarified that although he’d do everything in his power to get Punk on the roster, it will never be his number one priority. Rhodes stated that AEW has new and rising stars whom he needs to give his attention to because if he spends all his time trying to get Punk aboard, it wouldn’t be just to these young wrestlers.
But I have 25 to 35 brand new stars. Guys like Jungle Boy. Guys like MJF. Ladies like Kylie Rae, Britt Baker. If I was to spend all my time in trying to recruit just one CM Punk, I would be doing a disservice to them. I felt, in the past, with my own career that a disservice that has happened to me on occasion about putting someone ahead of me. You always hear the discussion of part-time, this and that. I don’t want to go too far there, but I want to make AEW about performers we have.
Rhodes then ended the conversation by saying that he and Punk don’t have any heat between them and again, the door will always be open for him to come aboard. However, for the upcoming ALL OUT show, his top priority is the AEW Title match between Hangman Adam Page and Chris Jericho.
That door will forever remain open to CM Punk. He was very good to me in OVW. He was a great person to learn from in the ring. I had a good relationship with him. That door will remain open, but for All Out, the main focus for me is Hangman Page and Chris Jericho to determine the very first AEW World Champion.
