Update on AEW’s Plans for CM Punk’s Return & Third TV Show Debut

As noted before, AEW is currently planning for CM Punk to make his official return to the company at their Forbidden Door 2 go-home Dynamite show this June in Chicago, Illinois. AEW is also currently planning for their upcoming third weekly television show to feature a “soft” roster split related to Punk’s return to the company.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that AEW officials currently have scheduled for CM Punk’s official return to take place at a yet-to-be announced show on June 17th at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Meltzer reported that this date is on a Saturday which likely will also be the official debut date for AEW’s upcoming new weekly television show. Meltzer also reported that while AEW’s plans were not finalized at the time of his report, the venue has already been booked and an official announcement regarding this show, Punk’s return, and debut of their new television show are all currently expected to be made soon.

Meltzer reported that while the negative of this new show being on Saturdays means that it will always be directly facing tough sports-related competition, the positive is that Saturdays are a better night to draw live attendances compared to other nights for AEW’s shows.

In regards to Punk’s upcoming return, Meltzer reported that several of those spoken to stated that Warner Bros Discovery officials wanted Punk back as the main star of this upcoming new television show while others spoken to had stated differently.

Meltzer also reported that Punk was an extremely important factor in AEW getting a deal for a new weekly wrestling television show but it is currently not known if this was entirely incumbent on him or not. One person spoken to outside of AEW reportedly stated that they had seen correspondence indicating that WBD officials definitely had wanted Punk back in AEW and other things happening in recent weeks behind-the-scenes being very significant in everything involving this new TV deal.

While the monetary amount AEW will be getting for this new television show is currently not known, Meltzer estimated that at a minimum, it would be around $52 million per year. Meltzer stated that his estimate is based on what Discovery has been paying on average per hour for first run shows, which is around $500,000 per hour.