Report: CM Punk in talks for a return to the ring

After more than seven years away from the business, a new report says CM Punk could be on his way back to pro wrestling.

Fightful Select dropped the scoop a short time ago. While they haven’t confirmed with the man himself or AEW officials, the site calls Tony Khan’s company “the most likely landing point” for Punk.

While other unnamed companies are said to be interested in signing Punk now that wrestling is getting back to normal and there are tickets to be sold, AEW is the only company Punk’s actually talking to about a return. Fightful says they’ve been told the “higher ups in WWE believe that Punk is headed to AEW.”

Before you get too excited and punch up Living Colour on Spotify, the report cautions there’s no confirmation of a signed contract or any return dates & booking plans, and reminds us that nothing is a 100% done deal until we see something on our screens.

But this is the first we’ve heard about actual talks for a return for the Chicagoan. AEW makes sense as a landing spot, for at least a couple reasons. One is all the bad blood still simmering from his WWE exit (while Punk worked as a talking head on Fox Sports’ short-lived WWE Backstage studio show, it was made clear he wasn’t working for or with Vince McMahon’s company). Another is that while WWE could give Punk the great big bag of money he’s been saying he’d need to come back, he’s more likely to trust Khan when he promises the other thing he wants - interesting creative, and fresh match-ups.

Punk’s expressed an interest in continuing with the work he’s been doing outside the wrestling space in recent years, namely MMA commentary and acting. But AEW could almost certainly make room for those things in any deal they work out with him.

We’ll obviously keep following this closely. In the meantime, let us know what you think in the comments below.