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Yesterday, it was understood that CM Punk was slated to make an appearance, but details had to be hashed out over time. Now, Fightful Select has provided more details on how it was kept a secret as only a handful of trusted people knew about Punk coming in, but it was intentionally put out there that it wouldn't happen.
Did CM Punk turn down an offer from AEW?
In the continuing saga of will he or won't he go to AEW, Bryan Alvarez revealed on Wrestling Observer Live that Tony Khan did meet with Punk in a face-to-face meeting but he turned it down in favor of Fox. Alvarez said,
"CM Punk met in person with Tony Khan about AEW and they offered him a lot of money, and he ended up doing this WWE on Fox gig."
"Now, what does that mean? I don't know. It could mean that CM Punk does not, in fact, have any interest in actually wrestling. It could be that CM Punk wants to continue doing what he's doing in his life.
"He's over the in-ring aspect of it, he was given a great deal to not even work every week! They made it abundantly clear that he is not a host of this show. He is a special contributor who will be making appearances on a regular basis.
"He's not even going to be there every week, so it could be, Fox has got a lot of money. It could be that Fox offered him a ridiculous amount of money to occasionally show up as a contributor for a show on FS1 and he took the money and that's what he's doing."
Who knew CM Punk was going to appear on WWE Backstage?
Fightful has said that they spoke to other employees of Fox and those who work closely with the WWE Backstage cast and revealed that only a close group of people knew about Punk coming in. They also note that mixed signals were sent out to the public to keep the surprise appearance a secret.
What's next for CM Punk?
As of right now, Punk will just be an irregular contributor to WWE Backstage where he gets to say anything he wants. At this point, he's an employee of Fox and not WWE. That still doesn't mean that a return to WWE is out of the question, but it doesn't seem to be on the horizon right now.
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