CM Punk has been on a bit of unintentional, or possibly intentional, publicity tour as of late. Just this past Saturday, The Second City Saint grabbed the attention of pro wrestling fans when he appeared backstage at Impact’s Chicago tapings. He was reportedly there to give support to Trinity, who made her pro wrestling return the night before, and, according to Fightful, played the card game Uno with at least one talent.
The Monday before that, Punk made even more noise when he popped up backstage at WWE Raw, also being held in Chicago. Punk reportedly spoke with The Miz, possibly burying the hatchet in regard bad blood over barbs back and forth on social media, before getting a few minutes of time with Paul “Triple H” Levesque. In all, it sounds as if Punk was only backstage for about 20 minutes but the appearance generated news stories for days,
One of the big questions fans had about Punk’s WWE visit was whether AEW President Tony Khan was given a heads-up that he would be there. At the moment, Khan is reportedly working on launching a new AEW Saturday show that will feature Punk and a roster of other stars, while also trying to mediate the lingering tension between Punk and The Elite. Some have speculated that Punk’s backstage WWE appearance could be the former champion posturing ahead of an in-ring return.
In an exclusive Haus of Wrestling interview, PW Torch’s Wade Keller shed some light on whether Khan was aware that Punk would be showing up behind the scenes at WWE.
“I heard that he reached out to somebody and asked, ‘What the heck is going on?'” Keller began. “But that doesn’t … I don’t want to say Tony would play these types of games but, it’s possible, it was very important for Tony to not have been okay with it, for the reason doing it.
“Okay. If let me explain it. If the Punk said, ‘Hey, Tony, I want to go visit WWE’s locker room,’ and Tony’s like, ‘I can’t know about this, do what you want. But we didn’t have this conversation and I didn’t know ahead of time. But go ahead, it’ll be good for PR.’ If, and I have zero reason to believe that’s the case but I’m just trying to account for all reasonable options. It’s possible Tony said, ‘Do it but I want no part of it. That’d be contract tampering.’
“So, as soon as Punk did it, it’s possible Tony started going to people, ‘What the hell? What is going on here?’ In order to cover himself, legally. So I’m just saying that’s possible. But my inclination, my belief, the belief of people I talked to, is Tony did not know ahead of time. And some people were like, ‘Is this gonna be the time Tony realizes what we’re dealing with? With Punk? Will he stop being such a fan of his and blind to Punk’s lack of social awareness?”
If you use any quotes from this article please give a h/t to Haus of Wrestling for the transcription and link back