Report: AEW May Not Have Secured Third TV Show Without CM Punk

Recent rumours have indicated that AEW are on course to get a brand-new 2-hour show on a Saturday night to add to their pre-existing schedule of weekly episodes of Dynamite and Rampage, and it seems as though a returning CM Punk will be the figurehead of this show with perhaps a soft brand split taking place to appease both sides of the Brawl Out issue.

In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer indicated that CM Punk could have been the biggest reason behind AEW getting this brand-new show;

“Multiple people have said that WBD wanted Punk back as the star of the new Saturday show, although others have been told differently. We do know that he was extremely important in this deal but whether the deal was incumbent on him, we’ve heard both ways.”

Meltzer went on to later say that even if Punk wasn’t necessarily part of the deal, it is still the wise business decision to bring him back into the fold;

“The reality is from a business standpoint if AEW is getting only what WBD usually pays for first-run programming for this show, and Punk is at least a part in getting the deal, I’m not saying the Punk deal is something they had to make. But it’s a deal that every single promoter in history would have tried to make.”

Punk’s return could well be coming in June of this year ahead of the United Center being booked out by AEW, marking his first appearance since the infamous “Brawl Out” Incident at the All Out 2022 media scrum.