CM Punk will have to wait another year to realize his WrestleMania dreams.
As first reported by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and confirmed by Mike Johnson of PWInsider, Punk suffered a torn triceps during the Men’s Royal Rumble match this past Saturday. The severity of the tear has not yet been detailed, but it’s assumed that surgery will be necessary.
Per Mike Johnson, Fightful & Dave Meltzer, Punk is in Tampa for tonight’s Raw.
Historically, a torn triceps takes up to six months of recovery and physical therapy, though it usually takes longer for athletes to be cleared to return to physical activity. Assuming that is the case, Punk will miss WrestleMania, and assuming all goes well, he still would be unlikely to return to the ring before this summer.
It was speculated that Punk was injured taking a Future Shock DDT from Drew McIntyre in the last act of the Men’s Rumble match. Punk rolled out of the ring holding his left arm, speaking to a referee before ultimately finishing as the runner-up to winner Cody Rhodes. Punk previously suffered a torn right triceps during his AEW tenure.
Punk returned to WWE this past November at Survivor Series and wrestled two live event matches against Dominik Mysterio the following month. The Men’s Royal Rumble match was his first televised WWE match in exactly a decade. Punk and World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins were likely to face each other at WrestleMania 40. A backup plan is not immediately clear, though Intercontinental Champion Gunther came face to face with Rollins on the Raw before Saturday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
As always, we’ll aim to provide details on Punk’s injury status (as well as his official WrestleMania status) as we get them, and of course, we’d like to wish him a speedy recovery.
