CM Punk is officially back in AEW.
As has long been rumored, Punk will make his return to the company on the debut episode of “AEW Collision” on Saturday, June 17 at the United Center in his hometown of Chicago.
AEW president Tony Khan made the announcement on “AEW Dynamite” on Wednesday that the Collision will feature Punk.
The two-time AEW world champion has not been seen or officially mentioned on any of the company’s programming since last year’s “All In” pay-per-view on Sept. 4.
Punk, 44, tore his triceps while defeating Jon Moxley for the world title in the main event that night and went off on the wrestling media over reports about him and former friend Colt Cabana as well as AEW executive vice presidents Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson in an explosive post-event press conference — saying he works with children.
The diatribe dropped any pretense of kayfabe.
It led to the two sides getting into a nasty backstage brawl, with all parties involved ultimately being suspended.
Punk had to vacate his world title and Omega and The Young Bucks vacated the trio’s championships they won that night.
Neither Punk, Khan, Omega, Matt Jackson or Nick Jackson have spoken publicly in any detail about that night because of legal reasons
In recent months, reports surfaced that there has been a cooling off between Punk and AEW and that he was interested in returning to work when he was healed from his injury.
That became official Wednesday and will become reality on June 17.
It is uncertain how AEW will handle Punk’s return as there have been reports they could split the roster between Dynamite and Collision for creative reasons and potentially easy any backstage tensions around Punk’s returns.
