AEW's canceled plans for CM Punk disclosed amid his recent absence from TV - Reports

CM Punk has been absent from AEW programming for months. However, a recent report has seemingly revealed the company's canceled plans for him.

At All Out 2022, Punk won back the AEW World Championship by beating Jon Moxley in the main event. However, his post-match comments regarding the company's EVPs landed him in trouble, and The Second City Saint has since been suspended from the promotion.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the alleged plan was for Punk to reignite his feud with MJF. The Salt of the Earth returned to the company at the same show and confronted his arch-rival.

Meltzer added that AEW wanted to revisit the classic promo battles between the two. He wrote:

"[Bryan] Danielson and [CM] Punk were back, and then [Kenny] Omega came back, and things did not jump back up immediately, but for Punk and Omega, they barely got their feet wet. The hope was to revive Punk vs. MJF, and have the classic promo battles, plus all the great undercard action. I don’t think things would have been back to September 2021 no matter what, but they also didn’t have to be at that level to thrive as a company going forward." [H/T: WrestleTalk]

The AEW locker room seemingly doesn't wish for CM Punk to return

CM Punk's AEW status seemingly keeps getting worse by the minute. According to another report from Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, a handful of stars don't want The Second City Saint to return to the company.

Meltzer reported:

"A few names were mentioned with Chris Jericho being the name mentioned most but that many if not most of the key top names were saying that they wouldn’t work with him. One top star noted that Punk won’t be back. His value on screen isn’t one percent worth the hassle and black cloud he causes backstage.”

Another report suggested that Chris Jericho confronted Punk backstage and labeled him a "cancer" in the locker room.

It now remains to be seen if CM Punk will remain in AEW or if his run with the promotion will end after returning to professional wrestling in 2021.