Tony Khan On CM Punk's Return, David Zaslav Coming Up With AEW Collision

As of a week ago, it's official: CM Punk will return to All Elite Wrestling programming next Saturday night during the first episode of "AEW Collision," which Punk quickly acknowledged on Instagram after it was announced by AEW President Tony Khan on "Dynamite." Punk has not been seen in AEW since All Out last September, where he won the AEW World Championship, suffered a torn triceps, and also got into a legitimate backstage fistfight with the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. The nature of what happened meant Punk has barely been mentioned, as well. But with the cat out of the bag, Khan is now free to talk about Punk, which he did in an interview published by Sports Illustrated on Wednesday.

"We haven't seen CM Punk in a long time, since All Out last September," said Khan. "He looked great in his last match. To the fans, he's very important. He's very important to the company, too. He's been a big draw for us and historically throughout his career, and the launch of the new show happens to line up with the schedule on his rehab of his triceps injury. We have an amazing opportunity with AEW on Saturday nights on TNT, starting June 17, and it was truly the brainchild of [Warner Bros. Discovery CEO and president] David Zaslav. He asked about more AEW, specifically Saturday nights, on TNT. When it was pitched to us by TNT, I was so excited. It's so exciting the timing [of Punk's return from injury] coincides with the launch of Collision."

It's not clear as of this writing if Punk will be wrestling on the debut episode of "Collision," but Khan will be announcing the June 17 main event tonight on "Dynamite."