Update on CM Punk’s Ongoing Absence in WWE

It's been learned that WWE has readjusted the schedule of CM Punk, which explains why he's not been on TV recently.

Update on CM Punk’s Ongoing Absence in WWE

CM Punk at WrestleMania 42 [via- WWE]

CM Punk‘s previous WWE appearance came on Raw after WrestleMania, and he’s been missing ever since then. It’s not unprecedented, as several top stars take time off in the aftermath of Mania. Punk, who’s pushing 50, had been on a full-time schedule and delivered one of the best matches of his career against Roman Reigns at this year’s WrestleMania.

Despite losing the world title to ‘The OTC’, Punk turned up to Raw the following Monday and declared that he wasn’t going on vacation. It surprised many fans that were expecting him to step away briefly and recharge after the amount of work he had put in.

There were also some rumors about his switch to SmackDown after he strongly hinted at going after the Cody Rhodes-held WWE title. At one point, the ‘Best in the World’ was even speculated to be the mystery man bailing Danhausen out at Backlash against The Miz and Kit Wilson. That didn’t happen, though. It was reported that he wasn’t even backstage for the PLE in Tampa.

Fightful has now clarified that CM Punk‘s ongoing hiatus is nothing more than his dates being readjusted. It’s basically a change in schedule, and that could very well see him miss the upcoming European leg of WWE. As of writing, he’s still listed on the graphic of featured stars for those events in Europe.

It remains to be seen whether CM Punk would actually work this loop of live events across Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, and the UK. There doesn’t appear to be any solid creative plans in place for him at the moment, which would likely rule the veteran out of having a match at Clash in Italy despite being advertised for the PLE.

He’s still listed for four episodes of Raw in June, except for the one in Paris. Whether the current listing warrants his presence or not would be something to keep an eye on. The rescheduling conflicts also happened with the man he lost his title to at WrestleMania—Roman Reigns.

He was initially advertised for every Raw taping across May and June, which would’ve seen him make 8 straight appearances on the red brand. A few days later, Reigns got removed from all his advertised dates in June, which was deemed an internal error. But then, ‘The OTC’ was added back to three of the Raw tapings in June in what was a baffling turn of events.

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What did CM Punk’s previous WWE appearance establish?

Based on his most recent appearance on Raw after WrestleMania, CM Punk was content with himself and not crashing out over dropping the world title to Roman Reigns. It caught his good friend Cody Rhodes off guard, as he was expecting Punk to act differently. ‘The Second City Saint’ then explained to Rhodes why it was difficult for ‘The QB1’ to be elated about his successful title defense against Randy Orton.

CM Punk
CM Punk [via- GQ]

It’s because of their relationship, which got tarnished just recently, but they remained close for the most part. On the other hand, CM Punk regurgitated his scorn for ‘The Tribal Chief’ that he’d harbored for years. Hence, it was easy for him to unload on Reigns. The Chicagoan felt proud of shouldering the responsibility of a world champion for the time he did, and it just wasn’t his night at WrestleMania.

Punk warned Rhodes that it’d keep getting heavy for him as he continued his pursuit of remaining a champion. Meanwhile, Punk was free as a bird but would later say that he’d keep his guard up, as one never knows when a championship opportunity will befall them.

He then gave a good stare at the WWE title, explicitly teasing going after ‘The QB1’ down the line. WWE has teased their match a number of times in the past couple of years or more. The fans are just getting anxious over it losing its appeal should CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes keeps getting kicked like a can down the road.

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