Rumors have been circulating that CM Punk has signed with All Elite Wrestling, and while nobody in AEW has confirmed this, they haven’t denied it either. Now further fueling the speculating is a special announcement that took place on Dynamite when Tony Schiavone revealed that the August 20th episode of AEW’s new television show Rampage would be taking place at the United Center in Chicago and titled “The First Dance.” So naturally, this led to fans in attendance chanting CM Punk’s name, and tellingly AEW’s cameras would focus on the crowd doing this.
With AEW’s next pay-per-view All Out taking place on September 5th in Illinois, it was thought that would be where PUnk would debut. However, with AEW suddenly announcing this event taking place in Punk’s hometown, it now seems inevitable that Punk has signed, and the promotion is bringing forward his debut due to the news leaking.
Once the announcement was over, AEW would go backstage to Darby Allin and Sting. This allowed Allin to cut a short promo that he’d be in Chicago and that AEW is the place to prove you’re the greatest, even if you’re the best in the world. This reference clearly points to Punk’s previous WWE nickname and could possibly be setting up Allin as Punk’s first opponent.
Punk walked out on WWE after the 2014 Royal Rumble due to becoming disillusioned with the wrestling business and being in poor health. He would detail his frustrations during the now-infamous podcast interview with Colt Cabana, which ultimately got the pair sued but let fans into what it was like to work for Vince McMahon’s company. It was believed that Punk was done with wrestling, but over the years, his stance seemingly softened, and he would even appear under a mask on an indie show. Then in 2019, he would shock everyone by participating as an occasional analyst on WWE Backstage.
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