CM Punk has had an interesting history with AEW so far as he got into a backstage altercation at All Out last year, and he also got into an altercation at All In last month. It was announced recently that CM Punk has been fired from AEW which has caused talk of a potential WWE return to pick up in a big way.
Whether or not WWE has interest in bringing CM Punk back is unknown at this point in time, but it sounds like Punk was interested in returning to the company last year.
Fightful Select reports that people close to Punk claim he was open to the idea of leaving AEW around December of 2022. It’s being said that he even encouraged the idea so that he could make a return to WWE. CM Punk specifically wanted to appear at the 2023 Royal Rumble, but there’s no word on whether or not WWE had interest in that idea, or if AEW was entertaining the possibility of releasing CM Punk at that point.
One of the rumored ideas CM Punk had, which hasn’t been confirmed by him or his camp, ended up making its way back to WWE talent. The idea would have seen CM Punk return at the 2023 Royal Rumble then go on to work a WrestleMania match against the person who eliminated him from the Royal Rumble.
Kevin Owens was said to have been the name going around in WWE at the time. KO’s name made it back to several in the locker room, but Owens was not a part of the pitch.
