CHICAGO – Professional wrestler CM Punk (real name Phil Brooks) returned to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Saturday night following months of speculation. This comes months after he was fired by Jacksonville-based All Elite Wrestling (AEW) for a backstage fight at their event in London. That firing has been discussed in-depth on the Going Ringside podcast.
CM Punk arrived at the very end of the WWE Survivor Series: War Games premium live event in his hometown of Chicago. Punk had not been in WWE since 2014. The arrival shocked fans as WWE had already put their copyright logo on the screen, which typically indicates a show is ending. But the lights changed, and CM Punk appeared for thousands of screaming fans.
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@goingringside Breaking News - #cmpunk has arrived at #survivorseries @WWE @AEWonTV #randyorton #wrestler #foryourpage #goingringside
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CM Punk did not wrestle in the event and his return came minutes after another high-profile wrestler, Randy Orton had participated in the main event.
According to Chief Content Officer and Head of Creative for WWE Paul “Triple H” Levesque, not many people knew that Punk’s return was happening. He stated that everything came together very quickly. Levesque says that he is excited to see what the future holds for CM Punk in WWE.
CM Punk has been embroiled in controversy for the past couple years following his time in AEW, when he was given a long-term suspension for a backstage altercation. When he returned to that company months later, it didn’t last long as CM Punk was allegedly involved in another backstage altercation at the promotion’s All In pay-per-view event in London. AEW owner Tony Khan, son of Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, told fans he felt his life was in danger and he had to fire CM Punk.