When CM Punk left WWE, fans were buzzing about where he might go next. Ring of Honor? New Japan Pro Wrestling? IMPACT? Well, he chose UFC and while he deserves a lot of points for trying, his MMA career was a short-lived failure. So, could All Elite Wrestling convince him to step back inside the squared circle?
"If he wants to come back to wrestling, it would have to be for the right reasons — both on his end and on AEW’s end," Chris Jericho said during a recent interview when he was asked exactly that. "CM Punk is a unique individual. Could we use him? Of course we can. Could WWE use him? Of course they could. It all depends on what Punk wants to do and what his attitude is when and if he comes back. Because it’s a new world now. It’s not a negative world, it’s a positive world. Especially in AEW."
Punk hasn't had good thing to say about Jericho in recent years and while there's not exactly heat between them, it seems as if Y2J is alluding to Punk needing to change his outlook somewhat in order to bring something positive to the table at AEW.
The #1 contender for the AEW Championship then went on to say that while Punk would definitely be welcomed back, he'd need a good reason for it.
"Like I said, if he wants to come in, he’d probably be welcomed with open arms. But I think he would have to kind of prove himself, as he would want to. Because I know him. He’s a competitor. He’s not gonna come back just for a paycheck or just to be famous. If he comes back, it’s because he wants to be here, he wants to wrestle and he wants to prove something. And if he doesn’t feel that way, he won’t come back. The only person that can answer that question, I believe, is CM Punk himself."
In other words, come back wanting to put AEW on the map and not for an easy pay cheque or to try and change what guys like Jericho, Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, and The Young Bucks are trying to do with the newly launched company. There's certainly a lot Punk could bring to the table, though, and Jericho is being a little harsh here.
For now, it really doesn't seem like Punk is interested in wrestling, so we'll see what happens.