CM Punk has reportedly been looking to return to WWE for a while, even before his departure from AEW a few months ago following a backstage altercation with Jack Perry. Punk returned to WWE at the Survivor Series PLE.
In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer revealed that CM Punk had tried to sign with the WWE twice prior to returning at Survivor Series.
Meltzer wrote, “From the WWE side, they knew Punk would come since there were the 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.”