CM Punk Reportedly Not Wanted Back In AEW Locker Room By Majority Of Top Talent

Late last week, a sizable wrench was thrown into the gears of any potential ideas that CM Punk could return to AEW anytime soon. In a deleted Instagram story, Punk corrected the record about a report on his program with Jon Moxley heading into last year's All Out, and, in the process, threw Moxley and Chris Jericho under the bus. And while there had been indications that the ground may have been softening over what transpired post-All Out in September, Pro Wrestling Torch threw a wet blanket on that going anywhere at this point. 

"The sentiment is he's not welcome back. The wrestlers don't want him back ... the vast majority of wrestlers don't want him back," stated PWTorch's Wade Keller during a "Focus on AEW" podcast. That doesn't necessarily mean that the entire locker room is against a Punk return, but his support among the upper echelon of AEW's roster has dwindled. "Maybe one or two of the top third of the roster would want him back and then there's some younger guys who liked him and just thought, 'Hey, this is a guy I grew up watching and it's cool having him around."

Punk and the top talent of AEW are like oil and water with it being pointed out that Punk doesn't get along with Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, or "Hangman" Adam Page, although a recent report indicated that Page had mostly moved on from all the backstage drama on this front. But everyone else seems to get along fine when Punk is not involved in the equation, which has presented a quandary on what to do with Punk and his contract for AEW. 

"But mostly there's a range of peaceful coexistence and really liking each other," Keller added, "and Punk is the exception to that right now. So him going off on Instagram like he did really hurt the chances of him being welcome back."