At Survivor Series: WarGames, a hooded attacker hit CM Punk with a Curb Stomp, allowing Bron Breakker to take advantage and hit the Best in the World down with a Spear for the 1-2-3.
During last week's RAW, we were told that Punk isn't cleared for action. It appears he'll remain on the shelf for now, as PWInsiderElite.com is reporting that the World Heavyweight Champion will also miss tonight's show.
That's because he's currently shooting Netflix's The Bodyguard. In the movie, he'll play Doghouse, a character described as a physically intimidating member of the security detail known for his loyalty and humour. The project is based on the 2022 novel by Katherine Center, and also stars Jared Padalecki and Leighton Meester.
So, no Punk, but what can you expect from RAW? Here's everything WWE has announced so far:
- Gunther will address his match with John Cena—the 17-time WWE Champion's retirement bout—this weekend at Saturday Night's Main Event
- Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer will address the WWE Universe about what's next for her title reign
- AJ Lee and Dragon Lee defend the World Tag Team Champions against The War Raiders (Erik and Ivar)
- Finn Balor battles Rey Mysterio
- Roxanne Perez takes on Lyra Valkyria
Back to Punk, and much has been said about his absence from Keith Elliot Greenberg's recent book charting the first 5 years of AEW, This Book Is All Elite: The Inside Story of All Elite Wrestling.
Talking to Futures of Wrestling, Greenberg broke his silence on not addressing Punk's acrimonious exit from the company. "Some people have brought this up. Whenever I write a book, I’m always going to be criticised, and I take that for granted," he said. "Whenever I do an interview, I’m criticised sometimes by the same exact people on Twitter. I know their handles."
"By this point, they’ve criticised me so much, I know their names. So one of the criticisms I telegraphed in advance, and I even discussed this with AEW, was the people were going to be unhappy that I don’t talk about whatever chicanery occurred backstage that led to the departure of CM Punk."
"This is a tribute book. If I wrote a book about the New York Mets, which is my favorite baseball team, I even have a Mr. Met tattoo. I would talk about the two World Series runs," Greenberg continued. "I would talk about their marquee players, but I wouldn’t talk about the fact that the owners at the time were supposedly investors with Bernie Madoff."
"But if the New York Mets asked me to do a tribute book about the New York Mets, I could do a really great tribute book, and not mention Bernie Madoff. So I was asked to do a book that is a tribute to AEW during the first five years, and that doesn’t belong in a tribute book, because really, we’re just talking about one or two incidents," he concluded.
Be sure to check back here later for a breakdown of all the biggest moments from RAW.