CM Punk's WWE Return: Everything to Know

CM Punk has done it again. During WWE's Survivor Series WarGames, the professional wrestler made a surprise return to the company after the show's final match. It was a shock for fans as CM Punk has been away from WWE since 2014 when he left the company. This move comes nearly three months after Punk was fired from All Elite Wrestling (AEW) for a backstage altercation with Jack Perry. 

But how did Punk make his way back to WWE? According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, Punk and Triple H had an hour-long conversation over the last two weeks. This got the wheels in motion for the return, and Triple H personally produced the finale minutes of Survivor Series, calling for Punk's theme and graphics. The fellow WWE Superstars at the show were told about the return before the main event. 

During the post-Survivor Series press conference, Triple H explained how Punk's return came about. "This was one of those lightning-in-a-bottle moments that came together very quickly but we are incredibly excited about it," Triple H said, per Cageside Seats. "It's been a long time, and in some ways been a long time coming. You could say this about CM Punk — love him, hate him, positive, negative, whatever you want to say, people talk about him all the time. He's a magnet for that. He's a conversation starter and it's tough to look past that. For me, if our fans want it, if the WWE Universe is excited to have it, then let's go. And we'll figure out the rest of it from there."

Mighty cold day in hell. #SurvivorSeries pic.twitter.com/1Z0KZ2LwCb

— Triple H (@TripleH) November 26, 2023

"This came together super quick, which I'm sure is why it stayed very tight. There was a lot of speculation. At that point, it was nothing but speculation for most of the time it was speculation. It didn't really start to come to fruition until everybody stopped thinking it was going to happen and then all of a sudden it was happening. But extremely excited."

Now that Punk has made his return, what's next? The former WWE Champion is set to appear on WWE Raw on Monday night. It's likely he will be thrown into the main event picture sooner than later, meaning it's possible that we could see Punk take on Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40 in April.