Although CM Punk has remained quiet since walking out on WWE back on Jan. 27, 2014, a mere hours before that evening's episode of Monday Night Raw in Cleveland, he did not, in fact, fall off the face of the Earth. In addition to some photos floating around of his picking up AJ Lee at an airport in Chicago, we now have visual evidence that he's once again hanging out at MMA shows.
Below is a picture of Punk sitting next to UFC President Dana White at last night's UFC 170: "Rousey vs. McMann" event in Las Vegas, Nevada:
CM Punk is in the crowd for UFC 170 pic.twitter.com/LUgJ91tEd0
— Dave. (@HeavenlyAriG) February 23, 2014
It should be noted that the UFC broadcast never showed Punk and he wasn't mentioned as a celebrity in the crowd as he normally would be. Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was also in attendance, was shown.
Naturally, this led to chatter about what his status with WWE is and Dave Meltzer addressed as much on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio:
"I just got this sneaking suspicion. The thing didn't start out as a work, I know that. But after... there's just too many things that have happened that if it was... You know, again, he hasn't been suspended and that's the key thing. He wasn't getting fired but he hasn't been suspended. Nobody has said anything. WWE is not and it's just like... It's just not like them. I think that there is probably the feeling that if they buried him there would be a fan backlash but the thing that was really weird to me was that the thing last week with Cole and JBL and Lawler, when that thing... not that they did it, because that didn't surprise me because that's what you would do, especially Layfield and Lawler both. I don't think they knew and they did what they... like making fun of the fact that the chants weren't very loud and they didn't sustain and all that, and that's whatever. I don't think that they went in there and did that thing and it was a work. But when it wasn't taken down, that's where it was like 'wait a minute, WWE would get this thing taken down in a heartbeat', and it wasn't. So that's where I thought that 'maybe'.
"I don't know. We're going to know in Chicago. Either he's going to show up in Chicago or he's not and if he doesn't show up in Chicago then he won't be there. All I know is that people who know him believe that Vince will talk him into coming back because of that."
So it wasn't a work at first but will be made into one if Vince McMahon manages to convince Punk to come back for WrestleMania 30, which he is still trying to do.
"The Straight Edge Superstar" is only on a sabbatical, remember?
D-Day is just over one week away when Raw heads to Punk's hometown of Chicago. Stay tuned, Cagesiders.