A Punk/AEW reunion was reportedly looking good prior to deleted Instagram

Will CM Punk return to AEW? That’s been the question since his performance at –All Out media scrum last September, and none of the twists, turns, or new rumors about the story have gotten us closer to an answer.

This doesn’t either, but it’ll definitely fuel further discussion.

It comes from Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer, whose message board post about Punk’s pre-Brawl Out World title feud with Jon Moxley triggered a response from Punk that took aim at him, Mox, Chris Jericho & AEW owner Tony Khan. That prompted another round of reports about the locker room’s stance on a Punk comeback, and a rare podcast appearance from Moxley to tell his side of the story.

Meltzer writes in the newest Observer Newsletter that Khan & Punk (and/or their lawyers) had “in principle” agreed to a reunion — something TK wanted. But that was before the public back-and-forth about what went on around the Moxley program.

The situation with C.M. Punk became a bigger story this week when he put up an Instagram post where he went off on Tony Khan, Jon Moxley, myself and Chris Jericho, which he immediately took down. This came while sides were working on a reconciliation that was at least in principle agreed to, per the decision of Khan who wanted him back.

Where things stand at this moment are unknown. There are tons of complicated issues involved and differences of opinions on the subject. But it was going to happen and then this happened and it still may end up happening.

Meltzer tied that item into a previous report from Fightful Select that AEW was wanting to move this year’s All Out from NOW Arena in the Chicago suburbs to the much bigger United Center in the city — which as you’ll recall was the site of Punk’s return to wrestling & AEW debut in August of 2021. The implication is that Khan wanted the bigger building because he thought Punk would be on the Labor Day weekend show.

While we don’t know what TK’s current thinking is, at least a couple members of the AEW roster continued to make their allegiances clear.

FTR’s Dax Harwood texted with Punk during his WrestleMania week live show last night (Mar. 30) as well. Per the Observer’s report on that:

After asking Punk if he wanted to send a message to the fans, Harwood said that Punk replied: “Yes” and “I miss them.”

After a chant for Punk then broke out, Harwood stated that Punk also said “I wish I bought them all ice cream.”

Of course, we don’t even know if Harwood & Cash Wheeler will still be with AEW after next month either, so…

Does any of this change your thinking about CM Punk’s future?