Report: WWE Believe CM Punk Wants To Return

Following his sudden appearance backstage at Monday's taping of Raw at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois, the belief within WWE is that CM Punk wants to return to the organisation, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

"Very surprised in WWE. The feeling within WWE is he was there because he wanted back. Whether that's true or not I have no idea. Obviously, there was talks of him going back... late last year but he couldn't go because he was still under contract. My impression is this was with Paul Levesque and not Vince and my impression was they didn't have any interest in him at that time, so whatever. Was it a publicity stunt for him to get publicity? I don't know. You'd have to ask him what his reasons were," Meltzer said.

Meltzer further noted that CM Punk ended up flying from Florida to Chicago on Monday with a number of WWE talents, who were travelling to the show. Reports have also revealed that Punk was briefly backstage and spoke with Triple H before he was asked to leave, per Vince McMahon's instructions.

Others within WWE believe Punk was there as a publicity stunt ahead of his rumoured AEW return. Punk is reportedly set to make his AEW comeback on the AEW Collision premiere on Saturday, June 17 at Chicago's United Center. He will be the star of AEW's Saturday night show that will see a brand split introduced to keep Punk and those who want to work with him separated from those who don't want to be in the same building as the former ROH World Champion.

Rumours have suggested that Punk will likely feud with Chris Jericho upon his return and a meeting between the two men, Tony Khan, and FTR is scheduled to take place.