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BACKSTAGE REACTION TO CM PUNK AT RAW, FACTOR THAT CHANGED HIS RETURN PROMO AND MORE
by Mike Johnson @ 9:52 AM on 11/28/2023

CM Punk made his official return to WWE Monday Night Raw last night and PWInsider.com has received a lot of questions about his promo on the show as well as how he was received backstage for his first night with the company after his surprise return at Survivor Series, the same day he came to terms to return.

As far as the promo, we are told that the initial plan was for a longer promo that would have given Punk more time, but timing issues led to the Randy Orton vs. Dominik Mysterio match to go longer than initially planned, so Punk's time was cut. This is something that regularly happens on live WWE TV. So, it was a more abbreviated promo than initially planned.

For fans who expected Punk to go all insane on AEW or Tony Khan, that was never going to happen. The story is Punk's return back to WWE after nearly a decade, not the last place he wrestled. For those who asked if the line about Punk being here to make money, not friends was a shot at AEW, it certainly could have been, but no one we spoke to could say that for sure.

Punk mentioned his wife, April aka AJ Lee during his promo. Right now there has been no discussion of her coming in. She retired years ago for health reasons and has carved out a successful writing career for herself, but one has to think that a cameo appearance or so down the line wouldn't be out of the question, especially since there are so many talents in the company today who have praised her work as influencing their careers.

Backstage, there were a lot of talents waiting to see which CM Punk showed up and for those expecting the grumpy Punk, well, that one didn't appear. Punk was out and about with everyone else in the locker room and spent time talking to a lot of people before the show. He wasn't sequestered away or anything like that. We were told that Punk came in as if he wasn't above anyone else and was friendly to everyone who interacted with him. Punk was described to PWInsider as seeming to be "happy to be there." There was a hope among some that would remain the case.

One source who spoke with him relayed to PWInsider there was "no sign of the version of the person who we'd hear was so miserable in AEW." A few people who weren't thrilled Punk was back noted that after talking with him, they felt better about Punk returning. So, it was a good first night back in that regard.
Punk is not currently scheduled for Smackdown this Friday in Brooklyn, NY.
Punk has not been assigned officially to any roster internally.
 
Randy Orton has been added to Friday's WWE Smackdown taping in Brooklyn, NY.

The Barclays Center announced Orton's addition this morning.

WWE announced yesterday that WWE United States Champion Logan Paul would be appearing on the broadcast.

Locally advertised, likely for dark matches, is Cody Rhodes vs. Dominik Mysterio and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura.
 
Since Paul Levesque brought up Jade Cargill training at the WWE Performance Center during the post-Survivor Series media conference, we've been asked a lot about her involvement at the PC.

Cargill is not usually there every day but she has been spending 1-2 days a week there and we are told that is the current plan going forward.

There's no official "date" for her to come up to the main roster or even appear regularly on WWE NXT.

WWE sees her as a strong talent for the future and are in no rush to get her into her first storylines.
 
Paul Levesque was not at Monday Night Raw last night. The taping was run by Bruce Prichard. We are told Levesque was pulled away on "other WWE business" and the absence was expected.

Drew McIntyre was legitimately cut hardway during his segment with Seth Rollins. It was an accidental deal, possibly because he caught the World title belt. We are told that whatever happened at Survivor Series seemed to have dissipated and McIntyre was in good spirits prior to the taping.

Dixie Carter was at the taping visiting courtesy of Bruce Prichard, who worked for her in TNA for a period of time.

Taped for WWE Main Event last night were Duke Hudson vs. Charlie Dempsey and Apollo Crews vs. Riley Osbourne.
 
Tammy Sytch is tentatively slated to be transferred into the Florida State Prison system.

Melissa Leslie, the wife of Brutus Beefcake, was listed as scheduled to testify yesterday on Sytch's behalf but did not appear.

We heard from a lot of people within the wrestling world upset about Sytch using the death of Chris Candido as her "downfall" in her statement to the court before sentencing, feeling there was behavior from her well before Candido's passing that were red flags as to the direction that he was going in personally, as well as noting that there was infidelity there and it wasn't on Candido's part - and that Sytch's own autobiography admits that. I took the comments to mean that when Candido passed, she spiraled out and never regained her footing, which is certainly true.

We also heard from some who felt that one of the experts testifying on her behalf using pro wrestling and "blows to the head" as a reason for Sytch's behavior was disengenious, as they noted she hardly, if ever wrestled and that the majority of her matches were in SMW where she was a manager playing a gimmick role and that she was never presented as an athletic, credible wrestler ever in her career. They certainly have a point there, although Sytch certainly took bumps in bouts where she was managing as well.

Sytch was sentenced to 17 years plus another 8 years of probation yesterday. Her attorneys intend to file an appeal to get her sentencing reduced. They have 30 days to file that appeal.
 


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Wow!
 
Iceberg_Taylor said:


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Wow!
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CM Punk was terminated by AEW following a situation at AEW All Out by a quickly developed discipline committee, and we’ve learned more, largely because of a tweet that may have referenced it.

Recently, Fightful revealed that a long rumored member of the committee, Megha Parekh, had actually stepped back from a lot of her duties as Chief Legal Officer by that time and actually had nothing to do with the committee. We’ve since learned that AEW General Counsel Chris Peck, who assumed many of her responsibilities, was a part of the three-person committee, along with an outside attorney.

However, there was also one long-respected member of the AEW talent roster that was involved, in Bryan Danielson. When asking sources on the AEW roster about his inclusion, one called him an “appropriate moral compass who exemplifies objectivity" and said that he effectively headed up and was the face of the disciplinary committee. Danielson was said to have spoken to the roster when addressing them about Punk’s termination, and noted that the decision was a particularly hard one. He cited the positives that CM Punk brought and his longstanding friendship with Punk, but said that it was the decision that had to be made.

On November 27, Danielson tweeted “My dad always told me, “The right thing is often the hardest thing to do. It won’t always make the most money. It won’t always be the most popular. But it’s still the right thing." We’re told that’s what Danielson said when speaking to talent at the meeting months before.

We weren’t given any indication regarding the decision making process that occurred by the disciplinary committee. Those that we spoke to said they believed CM Punk was aware by now that Danielson was a pair of said committee, as many of his friends were included in the meeting where Danielson addressed them.

This is a continued duty for Danielson, as he's also responsible for handing out fines when necessary.

CM Punk returned to WWE this past weekend.
 
- Regarding QT Marshall -- we can confirm that the report from WrestlePurists about CM Punk not wanting him on AEW Collision is true. Marshall was actually scheduled to primarily be involved with Collision on and off-screen, and Punk had nixed it. Regarding the NJPW-related direction news that emerged, we're told that's not why Marshall resigned from the company

- We're told that Haus Of Wrestling's report regarding CM Punk not taking a victory lap after Raw as a shot at the Young Bucks is accurate.

- WWE sources told us that John Cena was never considered for WWE Wargames, contrary to rumors.

- GCW sources claimed that Jordan Oliver was unaware of AEW filing a trademark for the East West Express, which is the name of his team with Nick Wayne.
 
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