The wrestling world is buzzing on Monday after CM Punk made an appearance at a tiny independent wrestling show in Wisconsin over the weekend.
CM Punk returned to wrestling in a mask and nobody knows what’s going on
Is the Best in the World coming back?
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
Wearing a mask and entering without fanfare, Punk hit his finishing move on Daryck St. Holmes before leaving the ring and getting in a waiting car. The move has wrestling fans questioning whether Punk is contemplating a full-time return to wrestling, especially in light of AEW signing talent to their roster — but that seems unlikely.
Punk has repeatedly said he’s not interested in returning to wrestling, at least not in the capacity that made him a superstar with WWE. Punk was asked whether he would contemplate returning to wrestling by ESPN in 2015, while training to fight in UFC. His response came perfectly true.
“But you never know, I could pop up here and there. Let me explain that to you even better: it’s not going to even be televised, it’s going to be me in a ninja f***ing outfit wrestling one of my buddies and nobody’s ever going to know. It’s going to be very ‘Monty Python,’ so to speak.”
Punk is still training mixed martial arts in Milwaukee, and MKE — the show he appeared at over the weekend is owned by Punk’s longtime friend and former Ring of Honor coworker Silas Young.
Young used the opportunity to promote MKE.
Was this a one-off appearance or part of a larger scheme to return to the ring? Punk has been vocal in his dislike of WWE in the past and the manner in which he left the company, but it still feels like a long shot that this marks a grand return with someone like AEW.
Time will tell, but this certainly has people talking — and that’s what it was all about in the long run.
