WWE Rejects CM Punk
CM Punk's WWE return is OFF as Vince McMahon makes the call.
WWE has reportedly made the call not to bring CM Punk back to the promotion.
Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio today that WWE has turned the 44-year-old down. Punk had wanted to return to WWE in the wake of his AEW dismissal, though the market leaders decided "no", with Vince McMahon making the call.
Meltzer stated that along with WWE CEO Nick Khan and Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque, McMahon decided that the positives of bringing Punk back were outweighed by the negatives. He stated, however, that there isn't such a thing as "no forever" in WWE - even if the comeback is off for now.
On Tuesday, Fightful Select stated that contrary to last week's Wrestling Observer reporting, Punk and WWE hadn't been in contract talks. Although Punk had reportedly reached out to WWE over a comeback, he hadn't heard back.
Punk was infamously fired by WWE on his wedding day in 2014. He returned to an adjacent space via Fox's WWE Backstage show in November 2019, though he was contracted to the network, not WWE.
AEW fired Punk with cause on 2 September, doing so days after a reported backstage fight with Jack Perry at All In.