When you’re a proven draw in pro wrestling, it’s hard to burn any bridges forever. Even getting fired doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the end of the road, and CM Punk may put that idea to the test.
Punk recently entered dubious but rarified air by becoming the first person to be fired by both WWE (after he walked out on the company in 2014, citing health concerns) and AEW. For many wrestlers, those would be things that would give other promotions pause about doing business with him.
But Punk is an outlier, as even past his prime, he has proven to help boost ratings, live ticket sales (at least in some important markets, like his hometown of Chicago) and perhaps most of all, merchandise. For companies other than WWE and AEW, those qualities might simply outweigh the negatives.
Dave Meltzer certainly thinks so. In the latest issue of his Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required), he says Punk “could walk into Impact with open arms tomorrow, or New Japan Pro Wrestling soon enough if he would choose to.” It’s not hard to see why; Impact is No. 3 in the U.S. market and could use the notoriety Punk would bring them, and NJPW is in the middle of a concentrated effort to raise its profile in this country.
As for WWE, the risk/reward calculus is a bit different. The industry leader is bigger than any one performer, and Meltzer thinks “there would be people arguing in both directions on him.” The return of Cody Rhodes, however, proved that stars returning to WWE from AEW can move the needle, and if anything, the curiosity factor around Punk would be even higher.
That leads to the most eyebrow-raising possibility of all, which is Punk returning to AEW sometime down the road. Could that actually happen? Here’s what Meltzer thinks:
If he doesn’t sign with WWE, it wouldn’t shock me if he even returns to AEW at some point, but admittedly there would be a ton of resistance to that.
On one hand, that idea seems preposterous since Punk was a multi-time offender when it came to backstage altercations that required suspensions. On top of that, AEW boss Tony Khan gave fear for his safety and that of other AEW employees as one the reasons he terminated Punk’s contracts.
But let’s imagine an AEW two years or so in the future, one where it’s having trouble drawing fans to shows at places it visits regularly. Maybe the luster of All In London has faded and the sequel in 2024 doesn’t bring nearly the same size audience. Let’s say it has a new TV deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, but Collision is wilting under the heat of sports competition on Saturday nights and the pressure from AEW’s broadcast partners is on.
That’s not to say what is definitely or even likely to happen, as AEW has made a habit of defying the odds more often than not. Yet those are all things well within the realm of possibility, and if some of all of them come to pass, who’s the one person Khan knows that would help alleviate those issues?
All of this is assuming, of course, that Punk isn’t simply so fed up with the wrestling business that he decides to just walk away for good this time. If he doesn’t, however, it’s very likely that he’ll have many options for continuing his career, even in the places that once wanted him gone.