Report: AEW's Long-Term Plans For CM Punk Revealed

CM Punk's status with All Elite Wrestling is currently up in the air but what the promotion's long-term plans were for the two-time AEW World Champion as of recent weeks has been revealed. 

As previously noted, Punk was scheduled to make his return to AEW on the inaugural episode of Collision on Saturday, June 17, with reports indicating AEW have booked Chicago's United Center for the event. Plans for Collision very much called for it to be the CM Punk show and he was to be presented as the top star.

CM Punk was not mentioned in the official announcement of Collision, though, and it has since emerged the 44-year-old was pulled from promotional materials due to a disagreement with AEW over Ace Steel returning to the road as a backstage producer. 

Upon his return, CM Punk was scheduled for a programme with Samoa Joe and a match graphic for Punk vs. Joe had actually been created. Following that feud, plans for Punk would have seen him reignite his rivalry with MJF, this time over the AEW World Championship, with the programme mostly being built on Collision, according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 

It is unknown if AEW will push ahead with their original plans if both sides can reconcile by June 17. 

MJF and CM Punk feuded on AEW TV between November 2021 and March 2022, with their record against each other currently tied at one win apiece. Plans called for the programme to resume over the AEW World Title upon MJF's return at All Out, with the two talents having a face-off to close out the September 2022 pay-per-view. Punk ended up suffering a torn triceps in the main event of All Out, however, before he had a backstage fight with The Elite following his media scrum.