At the recent Double or Nothing PPV, CM Punk defeated Hangman Adam Page to finally capture the AEW World Championship he’s had his sights set on since joining the promotion.
The excitement regarding a potential Summer of Punk was unfortunately short-lived however, as on the following episode of Rampage, Punk announced that due to an injury he’d need to step away from AEW TV for a short while, with an Interim AEW World Champion being crowned in his absence.
During last night’s Dynamite, AEW noted that CM Punk had successful surgery earlier in the day, although they did not elaborate on the specifics of his injury.
Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio has now provided on CM Punk’s injury status, believing that all signs point towards Punk having a broken foot.
“So Punk had his surgery today. I don’t know why they don’t say it was a broken foot, and he hasn’t actually said it was a broken foot, but he had foot surgery today, and I guess it went well.
“You know I broke my foot about 5/6 years ago right? So, Punk asked me all about when I broke my foot. So, it’s like, I guess he had a broken foot, right?”
“He didn’t tell me had a broken foot, but he asked me, did I need surgery and questions about a broken foot, so I presume it’s a broken foot.”
-Dave Meltzer
Dave Meltzer also commented on the potential time frame regarding CM Punk’s return to in-ring action, highlighting Matt Cardona and Cody Rhodes’s injuries as being ones requiring a lengthy absence, and believing that Punk will make a much faster return in comparison.
“Cardona’s torn bicep, we’re talking 6-7 months generally. Torn pec (Cody Rhodes), about the same. Foot surgery not as much, (CM) Punk will be back quicker than that but theres no target date or anything like that just yet”
-Dave Meltzer
Last night’s Dynamite saw the show open with a Casino Battle Royale, with Kyle O’Reilly eventually coming out on top. This meant he advanced into the main event of the show, where he was ultimately defeated by Jon Moxley, thus confirming Moxley’s spot in the match to crown an Interim AEW World Champion at Forbidden Door on June 26th.
Moxley’s opponent will be one of Hiroshi Tanahashi or Hirooki Goto, with the two set to meet at NJPW’s upcoming Dominion show in order to decide who advances to Forbidden Door. Upon Punk’s return, a match against whoever emerges as the Interim AEW World Champion awaits in order to decide who is the rightful holder of the gold.
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