Report: WWE Rejects CM Punk

As quickly as it appeared it was happening, CM Punk now doesn't look set to join WWE anytime soon.

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, CM Punk wanted to return to WWE but the company rejected him.

"Yeah, they turned him down... He wanted to go there and the decision was a no. It can always change and it was brought up to me like, 'Look there's no such thing as no forever but it's no for now.' That is the decision that was made. It's Vince's decision - Vince, Nick Khan, Paul Levesque. Obviously, they decided the negatives outweighed the positives. You can't argue with that... It could always change and it was made very clear to me if WWE's business went down they know it's a card they could play. But is it worth it and how bad is their business going to do down, really?" Meltzer said.

CM Punk has been a free agent since early September following his firing with cause by All Elite Wrestling. This came after an internal investigation into Punk's backstage altercation with Jack Perry at All In and Tony Khan noting he feared for his life at the Wembley pay-per-view.

Reports over the weekend stated that CM Punk and WWE were in talks over a return and him appearing at Survivor Series in Chicago on November 25 was considered a "safe bet."

Cold water was poured on the possibility of Punk returning on Tuesday night, however, after Fightful Select reported that WWE higher-ups they had spoken to claimed Punk and WWE were not in talks about a comeback and they wished to make that clear for those expecting to see the former WWE Champion at Survivor Series.

Haus of Wrestling also reported that a source close to CM Punk gave the impression that he and WWE were no longer in talks as "WWE is not in a place where they need to pay for a top star like Punk to come in."

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UPDATE: It has since been revealed why WWE turned down bringing back CM Punk.