CM Punk Returns WWE Raw Monday - Report

The story of CM Punk's departure from WWE following the Royal Rumble has been the biggest in the wrestling world for over one month. Hulk Hogan is back, The Undertaker is back and the WrestleMania card is starting to take shape, but any time a top guy walks out that trumps everything else in the company. Why did he leave? When is he coming back? We've been wondering it for weeks now and we've also been updating you on the story as best we can. Now there appears to be some sort of resolution to the situation as CM Punk is expected to return to WWE on this Monday's Raw in his hometown of Chicago according to the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer. While Meltzer won't say he's 100% sure Punk will be at the show, his source, who he says is "one of the biggest stars in the industry," said that it's 100% certain. Since it's not official news from WWE, obviously there's a reason for skepticism. However, Meltzer's also the biggest and most reliable news reporter about wrestling that there is. When he talked to Steve Austin on his podcast, Austin talked about how wrestlers would call up Meltzer for info on their own company, so there's nobody more plugged into the industry than him. There are a number of reasons why Punk's return makes sense in Chicago. It's his hometown where he's beloved and the crowd is always hot for him. They will be chanting his name whether he's there or not. Whether he realized it was the time to come back or WWE really pushed him to do it, it's the right thing for both sides. The timing is also right. Maybe he just needed a one month break and Vince McMahon gave it to him. If WWE was really that mad about CM Punk leaving they likely would have buried him a bit on television or removed some of his merchandise. They didn't do either. They chose to ignore him because they likely knew he'd be back at some point in the near future. For all we know, maybe Vince and Punk agreed a month ago that he would be back at the Raw in Chicago. There are two sides to every story, after all. As far as his WrestleMania involvement goes, it would make the most sense if he were to take on Triple H in a singles match because that's what they were building to. Then they could move Daniel Bryan into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match. It's possible that Punk could be added to the WWE WHC match, but without a new contract why would they put him in the main event? That's the other part of it. Perhaps Punk wanted more security about his future and he was having contract negotiations too. Maybe he's signed another extension (the deal is up in July) and as a reward for that they're going to put him in the main event of WrestleMania. We don't know those details yet. We may not know them for months. There are still five weeks left of WWE TV before WrestleMania 30. We know some matches on the show, but not all. There's plenty of time to build them up and it's important that WWE does it soon. Last week's Raw had a lot of hype with the returns of Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker, but this week's show in a hot market with CM Punk possibly returning has the chance to be really special.