CM Punk Attends NJPW Battle In The Valley

The Best in the World was in attendance for NJPW Battle in the Valley last night.

by Andrew Pollard
CM Punk
AEW

In quite the surprise, CM Punk was in attendance for last night's NJPW Battle in the Valley show.

With Battle in the Valley taking place in San Jose, California, the Second City Saint was spotted in the media section of the crowd along with Rancid's Lars Frederiksen.

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As noted by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com, Punk is said to have enquired a month ago about being able to attend this PPV. Obviously the two-time AEW World Champion's presence caused quite the stir, and several fans were able to grab photos with the Chicago native.

Likewise, Punk's presence was acknowledged by certain wrestlers, with KENTA teasing the Straight-Edge Superstar's famed Go to Sleep pose before instead serving up two middle fingers.

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Of course, CM Punk's future in the wrestling industry is very much a hot topic these days.

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As it stands, Punk is still believed to be a contracted AEW talent. While the 44-year-old was one of several people suspended following the infamous post-All Out media scrum last September, the Best in the World is currently recovering from a torn left triceps.

It's not known when CM Punk will be cleared to compete, and it remains to be seen whether his relationship with AEW can be salvaged, whether he has his sights on competing elsewhere, or whether Punk still even has the urge to remain in the wrestling business.

As noted by Dave Meltzer just this week, "there's a lot of mending of fences to be done" if Phil Brooks is indeed to continue his in-ring career with All Elite Wrestling.

Senior Writer
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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 dayjob, 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.