10 Wrestlers Who Turned Down AEW

5. CM Punk

CM Punk AEW
WWE.com

As it stands, CM Punk is one of an extremely select few individuals who walked away from a wrestling ring and really did stick to his promise of being 'done'.

Still, the Second City Saint has teased that he'd be open to an in-ring return if somebody made an offer that was creatively appealing and financially rewarding. Unfortunately for AEW, their chance of tempting Punk to become All Elite failed miserably - seemingly down to having informally AEW approached the situation.

In a 2019 interview with EPSN, a frank Punk explained how three different AEW officials had text him offers to sign with the company.

On how this isn't exactly the most professional way to approach a potential big-name signee, the Chicago native detailed:

"I always think if somebody wants to do business with me, they can talk to me. Texting offers isn't really a way to do good business."

In a follow-up story, Dave Meltzer went one further and even reported that Tony Khan actually first had loose talks with CM Punk as far back as 2018. But as of yet, Punk is still yet to play ball with Khan's crew.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.