-- Shortly before last night's WWE Raw hit the air, news broke that current AEW star CM Punk was backstage at the show with reports indicating that he was there for a brief period of time, mingling with some talent and even speaking briefly with Triple H before being asked to exit. This morning, more details of the situation have emerged with highlights below:
- Punk was in Florida over the weekend doing some commentary for MMA's Cage Fury Fighting Championships before hopping on a flight back home to Chicago, where he ended up meeting WWE wrestlers and staff, including a producer who he sat next to on the flight, according to pwinsiderelite.com.
- It was at that point that Punk learned that Raw was going to take place at the Allstate Arena, so he decided to arrive at the venue was escorted in by some WWE wrestlers.
- Punk was always in a common area, in full view of anyone who came past him in the backstage area and was not involved in any sort of secret meetings and was strictly visiting. He spoke with a number of wrestlers who walked by including Miz and it is believed that the two sorted out some or all of their past issues from when Punk was a member of the WWE Backstage panel on FOX. Others that interacted with him included Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley and Tamina.
- Punk also ran into Paul Levesque, and the two shook hands with Punk asking him if it was okay that he was there to visit and whether if HHH had time, they could have a conversation. Levesque told hi that he had to make sure with the "big guy", which would be an obvious reference to Vince McMahon, who was not there but was in communication all day via phone.
- Most talent who met up with Punk "greeted him warmly" and Punk for his part was said to be cordial to those he encountered as well, with some people guessing that he was there to try and clear up all the bad blood he had accumulated from his time in WWE and when he abruptly left the company.
- Punk hung around backstage for about 20-25 minutes according to multiple sources before eventually being told by WWE security lead Jim Kelly that he wasn't going to be allowed to remain and had to leave. Punk was said to be respectful of that decision, said his goodbyes and departed.
- The belief initially was that Punk was asked to leave because he was under an AEW contract, however, that has not stopped people in the past from appearing at WWE events and backstage, including Malakai Black and Andrade at the recent WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. One source noted that the difference with Punk is that there is a lot of legal history between him and WWE which is perhaps why he was asked to leave.
- Punk remains under contract to AEW for a lengthy amount of time and wasn't there to gauge interest in returning let alone negotiate a return while from AEW's side, reports indicate that most people, if not everyone, was unaware that he was going to be showing up backstage at Raw. Even within WWE, people who were not at Raw, expressed disbelief that he was actually there. There were some people who felt this was a publicity stunt by Punk as his AEW return draws closer because if he simply wanted to visit and make amends it could have been done at another time and place, not to mention by giving WWE a heads up. Others pointed out though that Punk lives literally minutes away and decided to drop by on a whim
