CM Punk approached WWE while being signed with AEW - Reports

It's been almost a week since CM Punk made his blockbuster return to WWE after nine years away from the company, but he reportedly wanted to come back while he was still in AEW.

Punk made his big return to the company at the very end of Survivor Series 2023 in front of his hometown fans in Chicago, Illinois. It was the first time he had been in a WWE arena in almost 10 years after famously walking out of the company in January 2014.

But according to Dave Meltzer in the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Punk wanted to return to WWE much earlier than he actually did. In fact, there was even a point when he wanted to come back while he was signed to All Elite Wrestling.

"From the WWE side, they knew CM Punk would come in since there were 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." said Dave Meltzer.

CM Punk famously showed up backstage at a WWE event while under contract with AEW

It's safe to say that it has been a long year. So much has happened in 2023 that some of the major stories from earlier on might have been forgotten, so in case anyone had forgotten about when Punk might have been angling for a WWE return, cast your minds back to April of this year.

While under AEW contract, CM Punk infamously turned up backstage at a WWE RAW event at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, the same arena he would eventually make his return in.

There was no official word on why he was there, but it was confirmed that he briefly spoke with a number of stars, including Triple H and The Miz, before being escorted out by security at the request of Vince McMahon.

Are you happy to see Punk back in WWE? Let us know in the comments section below!

Please credit the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling when using quotes from this article.