Just five days after becoming champion, CM Punk announced on the June 3rd episode of Rampage that he had suffered an injury that will require surgery.
Punk ended up not relinquishing the AEW World Championship, as originally speculated by fans, but a new Interim Champion would be crowned during his absence.
During the ROH Death Before Dishonor post-show media scrum, Tony Khan was asked for an injury update on CM Punk.
“Well, he’s doing well on his recovery. He was at the Comic-Con today. I didn’t see his panel and obviously, we saw that Bryan Danielson announced his return there, and not long after of course you saw that was confirmed here again on Death Before Dishonor that it will be on Wednesday Bryan Danielson returning from injury.
“Speaking of a Ring of Honor, true Hall of Famers CM Punk, the AEW World Champion. I don’t know exactly what he said, but I know that he’s doing well in his recovery. So I don’t want to scoop anything he may have said at the Comic-Con panel. So he’s doing well, he’s not behind in his recovery.”
Tony Khan on CM Punk’s recovery
“I wouldn’t want to step on what he said, but the last we spoke, I haven’t spoken to him since he did the panel, but going into the panel, he’s doing well, and on track and we look forward to a great unification match when he’s back. Whoever the Interim Champion is.”
When asked if we could see Punk back for Labor Day weekend in Chicago, Tony replied, “We’ll see, I mean I can’t rule it out but I also can’t promise because I don’t want to say anything when it comes to somebody’s recovery from a real serious injury and he’s really battling hard to get back as soon as you possibly can.”
During the AEW panel at SDCC CM Punk stated that he has no timeline for when he’ll be back inside the ring. His foot was shattered. He says it’s healing, but has not fully healed.
He also went on to say that he’s re-learning to walk.
CM Punk defeated Hangman Page at Double or Nothing on May 29th to become the AEW World Champion. His final match before the injury announcement was alongside FTR where they defeated Max Caster and The Gunn Club on Dynamite.
