CM Punk made his shocking return to the WWE at Survivor Series: WarGames from his hometown of Chicago last November 25th and the wrestling world has been talking about it since.
According to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer News letter, Punk tried to sign with WWE twice prior to his return at Survivor Series.
Meltzer also noted that this happened a few months following Punk’s heated backstage altercation with Jack Perry while he was still under contract with AEW.
He stated, “The only thing we were told is that the deal was put together about ten or so days before the event and kept secret, although obviously the idea that there was never any discussion prior is not the case and obviously it had been talked about dating back to them getting the word Punk didn’t have a non-compete period based on the nature of his firing and they could bring him in if they wanted. From the WWE side, they knew Punk would come since there were the two prior attempts Punk’s side made to come in, once before he signed with AEW and a second time last year when WWE couldn’t have gotten him anyway because his AEW contract was still in effect. Even though Punk’s first AEW promo indicated strong negativity toward his WWE tenure, it was clear despite all the water under the bridge from his side with the nature of his quitting and the subsequent lawsuit, that in the end, the opportunity for huge money and fame overrode the past and time heals all wounds.
“WWE under Vince McMahon did turn Punk down when his reps made an attempt to broker a deal years back, and also nixed when FOX had suggested his being brought back after they signed him independently to do their FS 1 weekly news show that was later dropped. One year ago there were also talks. Those in WWE said at the time they were not interested, but my thought was that given he was still under contract to AEW at the time, and wasn’t going to be given a release, no deal could be made theoretically for years until the AEW deal expired.”
