During last night's episode of AEW Dynamite, the company teased CM Punk's debut with comments from MJF and Darby Allin. Now, all signs are pointing to him potentially showing up during the August 20 episode of AEW Rampage, but something we haven't heard anything about before now is how WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has reacted to these recent reports.
Based on comments shared by Andrew Zarian on the Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast, Vince isn't losing any sleep over Punk signing with the competition, but Daniel Bryan is another matter!
"There’s a lot of rumors that Vince is very upset and management is very angry, how could they these two go? I think Daniel Bryan is the disappointment for them, CM Punk not so much," he explains. "There’s no buzz that I’m hearing coming from the office side that ‘we f’d up by not signing him.’ There’s a lot of people that think his stock is not what it normally would be."
"They think his UFC losses hurt him. A lot of people worked with him when he was very unhappy and I think that’s the memory that they have. I’m saying from management, I’m not the talent. I think the talent knows what a big deal this is." Interestingly, it sounds like the USA Network or FOX have a bigger issue with Punk signing with AEW than anyone inside WWE itself.
"A certain network is not very happy [about] the CM Punk stuff. WWE, they are not very concerned about CM Punk. They know it’s a big get for AEW but they were not negotiating to bring him. However, I would say that Daniel Bryan is a big hit for them."
Either way, this news has definitely come as a blow to WWE at a time they're looking to rebound in the ratings following the return of fans. Punk and Bryan could definitely turn the tide for AEW, and bringing Braun Strowman back really isn't going to overshadow these massive debuts for Tony Khan's company.
We'll let you know as and when we hear more!