After it was announced that Impact Wrestling Knockouts champion Mickie James would be appearing in the 2022 women’s WWE Royal Rumble match, fans began to talk about the “forbidden door” possibly being opened between WWE and AEW. In an interview with Abe Kanan, CM Punk commented on speculation about him and other AEW stars being in the 2022 men’s Rumble match:
“From my perspective, when I left, that’s what it was every year. This is the first year they had the Royal Rumble that I have been back in wrestling, but I work somewhere else, and people were still making shit up and saying I was going to be in the Rumble or Cody (Rhodes) was going to be in the Rumble or (Jon) Moxley was going to be in the Rumble. I get it, people want to be excited about it, but if you want to watch us, watch AEW. That’s what Twitter is for. It’s a cesspool and garbage and I want to delete it off my phone, but every once in a while it’s a ray of sunshine and fun stuff.”
