Dax Harwood Talks Up CM Punk AEW Comeback
"I talk to punk almost every day and Punk misses wrestling, that's your headline."
FTR's Dax Harwood continues to talk up the possibility of CM Punk returning to AEW, doing so again on this week's episode of his FTR with Dax podcast.
Harwood - who had previously pitched FTR and Punk vs. The Elite as a potential match at AEW's upcoming Wembley Stadium supershow, All In - unpacked his fantasy booking. Calling Punk "the biggest name in AEW", he noted that if the goal is to take Tony Khan's promotion to the next level, it makes sense to use one of the biggest wrestlers on the planet to make money.
Said Dax (h/t Figure Four Online/Wrestling Observer):-
"The reason I'm fantasy booking [The Elite vs. CM Punk & FTR] is because outside of Roman Reigns, and please correct me if I'm wrong, outside of Roman Reigns and maybe - this is not including like Brock Lesnar or Logan Paul or whatever - but outside of Roman Reigns and maybe Cody Rhodes, the biggest name in professional wrestling right now is CM Punk, right? Definitely the biggest name in AEW. So, if we want to take AEW to the next level, if we're here to work for AEW, if we're here to make professional wrestling better because of AEW, the way you do that is you take the biggest star that you have and one of the biggest stars in the world and you put them on the card and you make money with them."
Continuing, Harwood added that he speaks with Punk on a near-daily basis. He confirmed that the former AEW World Champion misses wrestling, wants to return, and has a desire to give back to the sport:-
"On top of that, I will say that I talk to Punk almost every day and Punk misses wrestling, that's your headline: Punk misses wrestling and Punk wants to come back and he wants to give back to the fans, he wants to give back to wrestling. So, I'll leave it at that."
Fightful Select reported yesterday that Punk has "communicated repeatedly" to AEW, saying he wants to return, laying down multiple scenarios for a potential comeback. These include a willingness to work with Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks, with whom he brawled after the now-infamous post-All Out 2022 media scrum.
The report stressed, however, that as of a few months ago, The Elite weren't as hot on the prospect of working with Punk.
Punk remains bound by an indefinite AEW suspension doled out after All Out, where his incendiary press conference comments on The Elite, Colt Cabana, and 'Hangman' Adam Page sparked the aforementioned fight.