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At the Survivor Series PLE in Chicago, CM Punk finally made his most anticipated return to WWE after nearly a decade. He showed up at the very end of the show,, and the reaction from his home crowd was huge. It happened over two months after Punk got fired from AEW with cause.
Well, the Second City Saint was the biggest star on the All Elite promotion, but was released earlier this year in September due to backstage confrontation. Let's go back to the three mistakes Tony Khan made with CM Punk in AEW that led to all the drama and debacle:
#3 Letting "Hangman" Adam Page bury CM Punk in a promo segment
Last year, CM Punk challenged Hangman Page for the AEW World Championship, and the match was set for the Double or Nothing PPV. On an episode of Dynamite leading up to the title match, Hangman allegedly went off the script and brought up Punk's past with Colt Cabana, and it didn't end well.
The promo allegedly generated real heat between the two, and the Second City Saint also mentioned the promo during his meltdown at the All Out media scrum last year, and it was the beginning of the debacle that followed afterward. Tony Khan could've avoided it by limiting Hangman on the microphone.
#2 Not resorting to the issues between CM Punk and The Elite
It is well known that Punk was involved in a backstage brawl with Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks after they stormed into his locker room following the All Out media scrum 2022, which eventually led to everyone involved getting suspended.
Several months after the incident, Tony Khan failed to get both parties on the same page for the sake of the company, and the heat just kept increasing. It was also one of the major reasons for such a debacle.
#1 Firing CM Punk after the incident at "All In" 2023
At the AEW "All In" event earlier this year, Jack Perry took a direct shot at Punk by using real glass and saying, "Cry me a river" on camera during his match. This led to a backstage altercation between the two, with Tony Khan also getting involved and Punk allegedly lunging on his boss to eventually get fired.
While Punk's firing after putting his boss' security in danger was inevitable, Khan could still have handled things differently for the sake of business, considering the Second City Saint was the biggest draw his company arguably ever had. However, TK went ahead with announcing Punk's firing in front of a livid Chicago crowd.
Meanwhile, the Voice of the Voiceless finally made his return to WWE after nearly a decade. Nevertheless, time heals all the wounds, and only time will tell if TK and Punk will eventually resolve their issues somewhere down the line.
