Boy, if there’s one thing pro wrestling fans like, it’s a rumor.
Any kind of rumor will do. Wrestler A is getting ready to sign with Promotion B? That works. Wrestler B is accused of being a devious sex pest? Yup. Wrestler C is upset with Promotion D because they haven’t been used on television in a month? Indeed. Wrestler D is cheating on his wife with Wrestler E? We’ll take it.
In a lot of cases, we don’t need anything remotely resembling concrete evidence, either. It’s one thing if a Sean Ross Sapp or a Mike Johnson puts their credibility on the line by reporting a rumor they’ve heard, checked, and then double-checked. No, wrestling fans will run with rumors that random Twitter accounts will mention, treating it as fact.
We’re going through some of that with the whirlwind of rumors surrounding CM Punk and his recent hiatus from WWE programming.
When this column goes live to the world, we’ll be a couple days short of two full months since Punk has been seen on television. After he dropped the World Heavyweight Title to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, he showed up on Raw the following night and cut a promo, essentially saying that he wasn’t going anywhere… and then, as I said, he went somewhere, and has yet to return.
With each passing week that Punk fails to appear, there is more and more speculation about why he isn’t there, and recently, that speculation has completely boiled over to become news on every wrestling site you can think of.
One rumor said that Punk was one of the wrestlers that was asked to take a major pay cut, but that he refused, and now, the company was trying to figure out what to do.
Another rumor said that Punk was pissed off at WWE and TKO because of the way they were handling the booking of WrestleMania, and not just for his own match, but for the matches of AJ Lee and of Cody Rhodes.
One rumor said that Punk had demanded his release, and the company was basically giving him time off to cool down before both sides figured out how to move forward.
Yet another rumor said that Punk was, for all intents and purposes, serving a suspension due to the fan incident during WrestleMania weekend when he smacked a guy’s cell phone out of his hand when the fan was trying to film AJ Lee and Bayley having a private conversation at their hotel.
Another rumor still said that Punk pitched an idea for something at WrestleMania, and that whatever the pitch was pissed off the higher-ups in TKO, so Punk was being forced to the bench for a while to let the heat die down.
The entire thing is insane.
I think the most likely outcome here is that Punk is taking some well-deserved time off. It’s not exactly uncommon to see wrestlers take a break after WrestleMania, sometimes for extended periods of time. On top of that, Punk is a few months away from turning 48, with tons of miles on his proverbial tires. Before his break, Punk had wrestled a total of 12 matches in the first four-and-a-half months of 2026. While that might not seem like a lot, it’s the most matches he has wrestled in the first four-and-a-half months of a calendar year since 2013. He probably needed rest, and he’s getting it now.
Where would the fun be in just leaving it at that, though? This certainly wouldn’t be a column if it was just to talk about Punk taking a break.
Instead, I want to take a look at the rumors, no matter how absurd they might seem. I also want to take a look at what would arguably be the single funniest happening in the history of the pro wrestling business… an outcome so ridiculous and so insane that it may very well cause the space-time continuum to collapse, leading to an extinction level event so massive that it ends all living beings and organisms forever.
I’ve already mentioned some of the top rumors that are floating around, but let’s look at them again, shall we?
Punk Was Asked To Take A Pay Cut, But Refused: This one didn’t make sense right off the bat, and it’s crazy that it had so much traction.
Look… whether you like the idea of WWE/TKO asking wrestlers to take pay cuts or not, it makes sense from a business standpoint. If you’re making $1 million every year, but aren’t doing anywhere near enough (whether it’s your fault or not) to “earn” that $1 million, your place of employment has every right to at least try to figure out a way to get that number down. I love Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, but the rumors were that both men were making well over $1 million every year, and the days of New Day being a huge deal on WWE programming and bringing in tons of money through merchandise are long gone. It made perfect sense that they were asked to take that pay cut, but kudos to both men for standing their ground, betting on themselves, and turning it down. Now they’re in a place where they can make so much more money with their own merchandise sales, working the convention circuit, taking independent dates, and eventually signing with AEW like almost everyone assumes they will.
CM Punk is not Kofi Kingston or Xavier Woods. While Kofi and Woods may have been beyond the days where they were going to be treated as a big deal by the company, Punk was not. He was the World Heavyweight Champion as of 24 hours before his most recent appearance, continues to be one of the biggest stars in the business, and is still making tons of money on merch sales. Even with the rumors stating that Punk might be making north of $10 million per year, I have no doubt that he’s “worth” that when you factor everything into the mix.
I also like the idea of Punk being approached about a pay cut, having him refuse, and then the company just deciding to keep paying him to sit at home for months at a time. In no way, shape, or form would that make any sense. They would release him if they could, and if they couldn’t, he’d just be right back on the road to help the company make that money back.
Punk Is Upset With WWE/TKO For Their Booking Of WrestleMania: Get in line, buddy. No, but in all seriousness, wrestling fans are always going to have some complaints about the booking of a show like WrestleMania. Some of the complaints are warranted, and others are not, but the complaints will be there no matter what.
There have been a few different versions of this rumor. One says that Punk wasn’t a fan with the way his match with Roman Reigns was put together, either with the build or the outcome of the match itself. Another says that Punk wasn’t happy with AJ Lee’s match with Becky Lynch was put together, again either with the build or the outcome of the match itself. The final one says that Punk wasn’t happy with the way that Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton was put together, once again either with the build or the outcome of the match itself.
I don’t think the build to Punk vs Roman was bad at all. It was very talk-heavy, but that’s how WWE operates, especially for WrestleMania, where they would rather not run the risk of one of their main events being ruined because someone got injured a week before the biggest show of the year. I guess you could make an argument that Punk wasn’t satisfied with his 169-day reign as the World Heavyweight Champion and was angling to have a longer reign before being overruled and booked to lose the title to Roman, but I don’t see that, either. This was the longest title reign he’s had since his 434-day run as the WWE Champion ended over 13 years ago, so it’s not like he was completely jobbed out and dropped the title almost immediately. Let’s not forget that his most recent title reign before this one lasted a few minutes before Seth Rollins pulled off the “Ruse Of The Century” at SummerSlam 2025 to take the World Heavyweight Title from him. Compared to that, 169 days might as well have been a Bruno Sammartino reign.
AJ Lee is the man’s wife, so it would stand to make sense that he might be a little sensitive about the way her booking is handled and taken care of. He comes across as the kind of husband that would definitely take umbrage at anything even remotely perceived as negative involving his wife, and no, that isn’t an insult. I’m married, and I’ll kill you with my bare hands if you disrespect my wife, so I get it, but I’m not sure that’s the case here, barring the company flat out lying to them and saying AJ was going to be the Women’s Intercontinental Champion until a certain date, only to turn around and tell her that she was losing to Becky Lynch at Mania. AJ winning the title in the first place was a fun story, and while some may have expected a reign that lasted longer than seven weeks, it can be difficult to handle those things with someone who isn’t around to wrestle every week.
Then, of course, there’s what happened on Cody Rhodes’ journey to WrestleMania. It seems like everyone was pissed off about TKO inserting their power there, adding Pat McAfee to the story of Cody vs Randy Orton when he had no business being there, simply because TKO CEO/Chairman Ari Emanuel is friends with Pat and wants Pat to have a Hollywood career. Punk being pissed off over something like that makes perfect sense to me. It wouldn’t exactly be the first time he expressed anger and frustration over someone coming along and being inserted into a major WWE storyline when they may or may not have been needed.
How would this work, though? Punk can be as mad as he wants, but he’s under contract. He can’t just decide that he doesn’t want to show up anymore. Not without potentially dealing with some major consequences and repercussions, anyway. That leads us to the next rumor, though.
Punk Demanded To Be Released From His Contract, But It Was Denied: While Punk can’t just skip doing what he is contractually obligated to do, he can damn sure try to get out of that contract if he’s dissatisfied enough.
While many are of the thinking that a company should only employ people who actually want to work there, Punk is such a big star and is making WWE and TKO so much money that it would behoove them to do everything they can to keep him around. If I’m in charge of those types of things, the absolute last thing I’d want is to release Punk, and I’d trip all over myself to get multiple options out there to kick the can down the road, so to speak, in an attempt to resolve the issues at hand.
If releasing Punk is your last option, it tracks that he would be out of action for two months and counting. You’d set some sort of time frame with no contact, and see if he can cool off a bit, then reach out and see where you’re at after a couple weeks, a month, or whatever. Then you go from there, based on whether or not Punk has had a change of heart.
Punk Is Serving A Suspension, Either Officially Or Unofficially, After His WrestleMania Weekend Fan Incident: Whether or not you agree with what Punk did to that fan’s cell phone during Mania weekend is irrelevant here. The fact of the matter is that what Punk did could absolutely count as being something that could get him in legal and/or financial trouble, even if that trouble isn’t career-ending.
I just don’t see this one as being very logical. If the company wanted to fine him, that’s something that I could understand. Hell, if they told him he was going to miss a week or two of television, I’d even get that. We’re at the two-month mark, though. That’s quite the suspension for what Punk did, don’t you think? The list of people that have been suspended for two-plus months by this company… for any reason… isn’t exactly long.
Could TKO have stepped in here? Of course. If THEY decided to hand out the suspension, that could explain the suspension being longer than that of just about anyone in WWF/WWE history. They play by their own rules.
My problem is consistency.
If what Punk did is deemed worthy of a suspension that is a bare minimum of two months long, then wouldn’t what Ludwig Kaiser did to someone in an Orlando elevator last month be something that would get a much more severe penalty? If Punk smacking the cell phone out of someone’s hand gets two-plus months, Kaiser allegedly punching a man multiple times, shoving him to the ground, and threatening further physical violence should get ol’ Ludwig sent straight to the Gulag. Not only did Kaiser not get suspended, but he is in the middle of the biggest push of his entire career, and his arrest was used in an attempt to get even more babyface love showered upon him in his El Grande Americano character in Mexico.
None of that makes any sense.
Punk Pitched An Idea For WrestleMania That Pissed Off Someone In Power With TKO: This rumor was never really attached to a particular pitch idea, but can you imagine how bad the idea needed to be to not only get turned down, but for someone to get so upset that they basically force the idea pitcher to serve a “suspension” of some sort?
That goes beyond Punk saying “maybe I should win the match instead of Roman” or “my wife should have a longer title reign,” me thinks.
Pro wrestling has been CHOCK FULL of “difficult” wrestlers, damn near going back to the beginning of the sport. Wrestlers who didn’t want to lose, who tried to use whatever “power” they may have had to keep their “spot” safe, and on and on and on. Even if Punk was actively campaigning for himself, his wife, and/or his friends to win their matches, that’s not enough reason to be so mad at him that you keep him off of television for two-plus months.
It would have to be more than that.
Did he pitch the idea for lifelike mannequins of Ari Emanuel, Mark Shapiro, Nick Khan, and Dwayne Johnson to be shot and beheaded live on pay-per-view for millions to witness? Was the pitch for the actual human versions of Ari Emanuel, Mark Shapiro, Nick Khan, and Dwayne Johnson to be shot and beheaded live on pay-per-view for millions to witness?
Something tells me that would warrant an angry response from TKO. Outside of that, though, I’m not a big believer of this rumor.
As I said earlier, I think the most likely and logical outcome is simply that Punk is taking some much needed rest. If you wanted to sell me on something along the lines of him suffering a somewhat minor injury, and that’s why his break may have lasted so long, I wouldn’t put up a fight. That would explain him saying that he wasn’t going anywhere before going somewhere. An injury that’s enough to keep him away, but not enough that he requires some major surgery that would put him out of action for a really long time like a torn knee ligament, broken neck, torn triceps, and so on would.
Just for poops and chuckles, though, let’s say it is more than that, whether it’s one of the rumors that are floating around or something that hasn’t been talked about yet.
If there really is trouble behind the scenes, we live in a place where the absolute funniest outcome could take place…
CM Punk returning to AEW.
I don’t care if you’re a fan of WWE, AEW, all of wrestling, CM Punk, or all the above… Punk returning to AEW, less than three years after he was terminated from his contract for just cause, might very well cause me to keel over and die from an uproarious fit of laughter.
The reaction from the tribalism dorks, on both sides, would be incredible. You’d have WWE nuts that were once singing Punk’s praises now talking about how old and washed up he is, and you’d also have AEW nuts that were once talking about how much the company improved once they got rid of the “cancer” (Punk) that was destroying the locker room now talking about him as if he’s the missing piece to getting the company over the hump.
The promos… dear eight-pound, six-ounce newborn infant Jesus, the promos… they would be the must-see of all must-see television. Punk and the Young Bucks in the same place at the same time again? Better yet, Punk and Jack Perry in the same place at the same time again? Just thinking about it has my nipples hard enough to cut glass.
Even thinking about a scenario where Tony Khan calls a roster-wide meeting to ask for everyone’s input is funny. Tony going up and down the entire roster, asking them if they think the company should bring Punk back, promising that things would be different this time around, assuring everyone’s safety is legitimately making me stifle laughter as I type these words out in my office.
Let me point this out once again, folks… I don’t think CM Punk is going anywhere, nor do I think there is any drama currently going on with him behind-the-scenes. From everything we know, and think we know, about Phil Brooks, would it come as a surprise if he were a bit upset over things like TKO putting their fingerprints on the WrestleMania build YET AGAIN? Absolutely not. Short of something REALLY egregious, though… TKO writes Pat McAfee into the Cody vs Randy story, and then it’s McAfee that somehow leaves Mania as the Undisputed WWE Champion… I can’t see Punk getting mad enough to throw things away like that, especially because he knows what the non-WWE options are for him if he wants to keep wrestling. AEW is a great option for a lot of people, but I can’t imagine Punk wants to be there again, even if Tony Khan were to give him a blank check to return.
Is there a tiny part of me, somewhere deep down, that wants to see Punk return to AEW? Honestly, yes. As someone who writes weekly pro wrestling columns, I think Punk jumping back to AEW would provide me with plenty of content to work with, at least in the beginning. Eventually, things would either settle down (boring) or he’d be gone again (boring), but that early stage would be a doozy.
He seems to be happier (barring those pesky rumors) right now, though. The man seems to be having more fun, on and off-screen, and seems to be handling everything better now. Even working with people like Seth Rollins, who he doesn’t exactly get along with, seemed easier for him. Call it late-stage maturity, realizing that this is his last chance, or whatever else you want to… either way, this seems to be what’s best for his mental health for the time being.
Sometimes it’s just fun to speculate recklessly, you know?
Do you think there is ANY validity to ANY of the rumors that are currently floating around about CM Punk’s absence from WWE programming? As always, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), or on Bluesky (@aaronhyden.bsky.social), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Now, let’s switch things over to my Weekly Power Rankings before ending with the list of songs I was listening to as I put this column together.
Weekly Power Rankings
Brody King vs Swerve Strickland: A spot in the Finals of the Owen Hart Cup was on the line here, and both men wrestled like it. I keep saying it, but it’s worth repeating… with the Owen Hart Cup and the King & Queen Of The Ring tournaments going on, we’re seeing a lot of wrestlers seemingly working extra hard, which puts over the importance of the tournaments and what can be gained by winning them. It’s a beautiful thing to witness.
Danhausen: Boy, oh, boy… the power of Danhausen was on full effect during the NBA Finals. For those of you who have been living underneath all sorts of rocks, the New York Knicks made the NBA Playoffs, but were then cursed by Danhausen during an appearance on ESPN. The Knicks then went out and lost two of their first three postseason games, and Danhausen was SWARMED with requests and demands to “uncurse” the team. He would do so, and then the Knicks would go on to win the NBA title, marking their first championship in 53 years. This is going to be milked for every possible cent, and now, Saturday Night’s Main Event on July 18th is going to be must-see. The venue for SNME that night is none other than Madison Square Garden, which is where the New York Knicks call home. The pop Danhausen gets in MSG that night is going to be insane.
Penta vs Rey Mysterio: Generational Lucha Icon vs Generational Lucha Icon! Outside of a Poisonrana screwup that was very nearly a tragic injury for Rey, this was yet another performance for him that saw him turn back the clock. This was another international crowd that loved seeing Rey. It was his first time wrestling in France in two years, and only the second time he has ever wrestled in the country, so they were thrilled to witness him in person.
Nathan Frazer & Axiom vs Noam Dar & Romeo Moreno: Man, it was really good to see FrAxiom back in NXT, even if it doesn’t end up being anything more than a one-off. Actually, it was good to see FrAxiom back in action, period. They’ve only had three matches on WWE television so far in 2026. This was a lot of fun, and I continue to find myself impressed with Romeo Moreno since he made his NXT debut. I like the idea of pairing him with Noam Dar, who probably wasn’t going to get an opportunity to do much as a singles performer, anyway. Keep them together as a team, and they’ll be a very interesting duo to watch for the rest of the year.
Kendal Grey vs Kelani Jordan: Based purely on in-ring work, Kendal Grey is more than ready for the WWE main roster, and would become one of the best workers in the women’s division on Raw or Smackdown from day one. She is so good, and keeps getting better damn near on a weekly basis. It’s so much fun to watch.
Seth Rollins vs Talla Tonga vs Ricky Saints vs Je’Von Evans: Once again, kudos to the wrestlers for working extra hard to put over the importance of these tournaments going on. They’re wrestling as if World Title shots are on the line because World Title shots are, indeed, on the line. I think everyone assumed Rollins would win this, getting him closer to a match against Roman Reigns at SummerSlam, but Je’Von winning was a pleasant surprise. Roman vs Seth is still something that can be set up pretty easily, even without Seth winning King Of The Ring, so fret not.
Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Pac, Daniel Garcia & Marina Shafir vs Shane Taylor, Carlie Bravo, Capt. Shawn Dean, Lee Moriarty & Trish Adora: I’ve been asking for Shane Taylor Promotions to get an opportunity to shine on AEW television after working on Ring Of Honor shows for so long. The good news is that they’ve been given a chance, working on AEW shows for a few weeks now. However, the bad news is that they’ve lost time and time again. Now that they’ve lost this Street Fight to Jon Moxley & The Moxlies, you have to wonder how much longer it will be until they’re back to wrestling strictly in RoH again.
Rey Fenix vs Axiom: Axiom makes two appearances in a single edition of my Weekly Power Rankings for the first time in forever. WWE seems to only remember Axiom and Nathan Frazer when the company travels to the United Kingdom and Europe for shows, so it was nice to see Axiom work a match in the United States. I’m not sure Providence, Rhode Island was the ideal place to have Rey Fenix vs Axiom for the AAA Cruiserweight Title, but hey, it’s something, I guess.
Starlight Kid: It’s Forbidden Door time, so naturally, we’re getting a bunch of non-AEW talent coming to AEW for the event. The storyline has been that Thekla is basically declaring war on the Stardom promotion. She spent three-and-a-half years working for Stardom before signing with AEW, so she has some feelings and opinions about the place. It was pretty obvious that someone from Stardom would be showing up to face her at Forbidden Door, and we found out that that Stardom performer would be Starlight Kid. She’s one of the company’s top talents, and is going to blow people away when they watch her wrestle. I love it.
LA Knight vs Finn Balor vs Jey Uso vs Royce Keys: You know what, folks? I’m starting to think that LA Knight isn’t ever going to be a World Champion in WWE. Whether you think he deserves to be or not, it seems like he has gotten close to that level 500 different times now, only to fall just short each and every time. A lot of people thought he was going to win King Of The Ring to earn a World Title shot at SummerSlam, but now we know that isn’t happening. How long will live crowds continue to support him? Will they give up on him at some point if he doesn’t get over the hump?
Charlotte Flair vs Lyra Valkyria vs Sol Ruca vs Jade Cargill: The match went way longer than I ever would’ve expected it to, but it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the only thing that everyone can talk about coming out of it is the trouble that Jade had with her wig during the match. It seemed like she almost lost the wig two or three different times, but at least she took it all in stride, reacting with a funny tweet about how it was close to being her worst nightmare.
Alexa Bliss vs Becky Lynch vs Liv Morgan vs Chelsea Green: Oh, hey, it’s another entertaining tournament match. It’s hard to ask for much more than that.
Chad Gable: His apparent face run continued, and he keeps getting really good crowd reactions from international crowds. The real key is to see what his crowd reactions will be in the United States, where he will be doing most of his appearances moving forward. Also, the reason I said “apparent” earlier is because this is pro wrestling that we’re talking about here. It may or may not be likely, but there is certainly a possibility that this is all a ruse and that we’ll find out that Gable is still a dick, and he’ll be a heel moving forward. It’s not like WWE has a lengthy history of booking him very well, so we’ll see what happens. I really hope they’re smart enough to read the room, but I guess that also depends on how crowds in the United States treat him.
Zack Sabre Jr: Again, it’s Forbidden Door time, so we’re going to get non-AEW wrestlers showing up to create some sort of stories for the event. We’ve seen ZSJ in AEW a bunch in the past… this is the fifth Forbidden Door show, and this will be the fifth time he has wrestled on a Forbidden Door show, to go with several other matches… but now, he’s showing up to face Kenny Omega. It’s the biggest match he’s had at Forbidden Door, and arguably the biggest match he’s had under the AEW umbrella (up there with his match against Bryan Danielson at WrestleDream 2023). It will mark their first time facing each other since a match during the 2018 G1 Climax tournament in New Japan, and I’m excited for it. That automatically makes Forbidden Door more intriguing for me.
Kevin Knight vs Myron Reed: Yet another modern day wrestling special, where the outcome was never, ever, ever going to be in question, but at least the match was fun. I’m still not completely sold on Kevin Knight as a heel, but there’s still plenty of time to win me over.
Zaria: The match in which she won barely missed the cut here, but congratulations to the brand new NXT Women’s North American Champion. Zaria continues to stand out even further now that Sol Ruca has moved on to the main roster. Speaking of people moving to the main roster, former NXT Women’s North American Champion Tatum Paxley said her goodbyes to the NXT fans after the show went off the air, so it appears that she is Raw or Smackdown bound… or leaving the company altogether.
This Week’s Playlist: “Ensenada” by Sublime… “Gangstalker” by Sublime… “Figueroa” by Sublime… “Until The Sun Explodes” by Sublime… “INSECURE” by YG, JID & Ab-Soul… “Good As Yours” by Chris Young… “I Hope It’s Okay” by Chris Young… “Til The Last One Dies” by Chris Young… “Water” by That Mexican OT… “Blood Pact” by Fit For A King… “Forever/Always” by Sleeping With Sirens… “Tomorrow’s Over” by HIGHSOCIETY & Micah Martin… “Everything Is Fine” by Movements… “Way 2 Strong” by Bizzy Bone… “Follow You Follow Me” by Genesis… “That’s All” by Genesis… “Invisible Touch” by Genesis… “In Too Deep” by Genesis… “I Can’t Dance” by Genesis… “Hold On My Heart” by Genesis… “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins… “You Can’t Hurry Love” by Phil Collins… “Sussudio” by Phil Collins… “One More Night” by Phil Collins… “Take Me Home” by Phil Collins… “Do You Remember?” by Phil Collins… “Something Happened On The Way To Heaven” by Phil Collins… “I Wish It Would Rain Down” by Phil Collins… “Another Day In Paradise” by Phil Collins… “All Of My Life” by Phil Collins… “Two Hearts” by Phil Collins… “Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)” by Phil Collins… “A Groovy Kind Of Love” by Phil Collins… “Hold The Line” by Toto… “I’ll Be Over You” by Toto
