CM Punk Returns to Pro Wrestling, Makes 'Surprise' Appearance at 'AEW Rampage'

CM Punk is back. On Friday night, the former WWE Superstar made a surprise appearance at AEW: [...]

By Brian Jones

CM Punk is back. On Friday night, the former WWE Superstar made a surprise appearance at AEW: Rampage, which was in Punk's hometown of Chicago. The crowd was deafening with chants for the former WWE star and soon were greeted with "Cult of Personality" and a very emotional Punk.

Back in July, Fightful reported Punk was talking to All Elite Wrestling for a possible return. Punk was one of the top stars in WWE before being released from his contract in 2014. He hasn't been with any professional wrestling promotion since, but the former WWE Champion did make an appearance at an indie show in 2019. Last year, Punk appeared on the Oral Sessions podcast with Renee Paquette and was asked about making a return to the squared circle.

"What would it take? Oh gosh. Without wanting to insult anybody on either side of the fence, any WWE talent or AEW talent, it would take, above all, an interesting scenario," he said, per our sister site ComicBook.com. "A story that would be fun to tell and also just the stupidest amount of money. But, they can save themselves a lot of money if they present a fun storyline. Now, what that is, I don't know. I'm a pretty picky guy, especially at this point. I think there are more interesting people on the AEW side of things for me to wrestle and that's because I've never wrestled them before. Young Bucks, Kenny Omega."

When talking to Sports Illustrated earlier this year, Punk was asked about a turn to WWE. "I'm not fishing for a deal," Punk stated. "I get offered to do a lot of stuff, and I say no to 90% of it just because my thing is I need to work with quality human beings. It just seems like maybe in pro wrestling there is a lack of quality human beings. I don't know. I like doing fun, quality projects."

During his time in WWE, Punk won the WWE Championship twice and the World Heavyweight Championship three times. With Punk now in AEW, fans will push him to be a main eventer, meaning he could face Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship down the road.

It's also possible Punk could take on other top stars on the roster such as Christian Cage, Miro, or Adam "Hangman" Page.

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