The wrestling world has been buzzing since Saturday night as 2 of the biggest wrestling stars in the world returned to WWE in Chicago at Survivor Series this past Saturday. Randy Orton and CM Punk both made entrances to massive pops in front of a sold out crowd in Chicago at “Survivor Series: War Games” and the wrestling world is seemingly at a fever pitch we haven’t seen in a long time with these 2 massive stars and talents back in the fray.
WWE’s Apex Predator returns for the first time in a year and a half from fusion back surgery
Randy Orton exited WWE in May of 2022 dealing with serious back issues that required fusion surgery. Orton was last seen on WWE TV being attacked by The Bloodline along with his tag team partner at the time Matt Riddle. Since this time, there has been long speculation about Orton’s return to the ring, many rumors and questions about if it would happen at all. This past May reports came out that Orton’s career was in serious jeopardy and he was advised by doctors not to return to the ring. Kurt Angle went as far to confirm this on his podcast last week that Orton had serious doubt about if he’d ever fully recover and be able to return to the ring. Orton has had a decorated hall of fame career and many acknowledge he’s a man with nothing left to prove at 43 years old with over 20 years spent in the business. Back in August, rumors ran rampant that Orton would make his return at Summerslam in Detroit but this of course never happened and left fans continuing to wonder when/if Orton would return to the ring. But over the last few weeks rumors started to ramp up about Orton’s return to the ring and when Drew McIntyre joined The Judgement Day’s Survivor Series team on Raw this seemingly cleared the way for Orton to join forces with Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn and Jey Uso as their 5th member of their War Games team. Last Monday on Raw we got the confirmation we had been waiting for when Cody Rhodes announced Orton as the 5th member of their team. WWE teased throughout Saturday night’s show that Orton may not show up but as expected he made his triumphant return as the last member to join the War Games match. Orton came out very fired up and received a huge ovation from the Chicago crowd and went he got in the ring hit all the old Randy Orton spots we’ve come to love. Included in this was one of the greatest RKO’s we’ve ever seen on JD McDonough as he was tossed off the top of the War Games cage. Orton’s team would go on to win the match and now he is set to appear on Raw tonight as we wait and see what direction WWE will go with his return.
CM Punk’s departure from WWE and controversial tenure with AEW
Unlike Orton’s return, the 2nd return we will discuss was stunning to many people. For the first time since his departure in January of 2014, CM Punk returned to WWE to one of the most rampant crowd reactions we’ve ever heard in his hometown of Chicago. The issues surrounding Punk’s departure from WWE have been well documented over the years to include frustrations with booking, a misdiagnosed staph infection, Rocky relationships with Vince McMahon and Triple H and overall dissatisfaction with his placement on the card and within the company. Punk left WWE at Royal Rumble in January of 2014 on his own and this led to a very ugly public back and forth between Punk and WWE. These issues made many people doubt a return to the company for Punk was ever possible. In late 2019 Punk joined the Fox run WWE Backstage TV show and fueled speculation that a return to the company could very well be possible. This was further driven by a tweet from Seth Rollins at the time reading “fight me @cmpunk.” (More on those 2 to follow. But this return never materialized and Punk would return to pro wrestling in August of 2021 for AEW rather than WWE to once again, a raucous ovation in his hometown of Chicago. Things seemed to be going great for Punk in AEW as his run with the company began to include incredible feuds and matches with Darby Allin, MJF and Hangman Adam Page to begin his tenure. Punk and Page would be involved in a contentious segment on the last AEW Dynamite episode before AEW Double or Nothing in May of 2022 that began to lead to non kayfabe issues between the two and many point to as the beginning of the AEW Civil War. Punk would win the AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing over Page but would have to go on a hiatus with a broken foot. Punk would return in August of 2022 to feud with Jon Moxley and after defeating Moxley at AEW All Out in September of 2022, Punk would have an explosive press conference attacking Page and fellow AEW EVP’s The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega for backstage issues that had bled out into the media blaming Punk for the firing of Colt Cabana from AEW; allegations that Punk vehemently denied in the press conference. This led to the infamous “Brawl Out” altercation between everybody previously named backstage and led to suspensions and months of investigations and controversy. Punk tore his triceps in the match with Moxley and would miss time anyway and would eventually return to AEW in June of 2023 debuting a new show for the company “Collision.” Things with Punk and AEW would reach the last straw in August at AEW All In at Wembley Stadium when a backstage altercation between Punk and Jack Perry took place after Punk had tried to stop Perry from doing a dangerous spot with real glass during his match with Hook, Perry pointed into the camera and said “real glass, cry me a River.” This led Punk to confront Perry after this match and get into an altercation backstage with the 26 year old. Punk would have his match with Samoa Joe at that show and that would be his last appearance with AEW as a week later on September 2, 2023 CEO Tony Khan announced Punk was fired for his part in the brawl with Perry. This led many to wonder if we had seen the last of Punk in a wrestling ring after ugly departures with both WWE and AEW.
Punk’s shocking return to WWE Saturday night.
And everything previously discussed has led up to the moment Saturday Night everybody is talking about. Following the War Games main event on Saturday, the sold out Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois came unglued as the just released remastered version of “Cult of Personality” hit and Punk walked out of the curtain and onto WWE TV for the first time in almost 10 years. This is a moment many including never thought would be possible in any of our wildest dreams. Punk didn’t say a single word and in this moment it wasn’t at all necessary, it was poetic, his presence spoke for itself. The aforementioned Seth Rollins was not on board with the Chicago faithful though, to go along with the previously mentioned tweet from 2019, Rollins said in an interview in January of 2023 he didn’t want Punk a part of WWE calling him a cancer in the process. Rollins exploded as Punk walked out shooting obscene gestures, shouting obscenities at Punk and needing to be restrained by WWE officials, Michael Cole and Corey Graves. Of course with the nature of pro wrestling many are wondering if this was a kayfabe reaction from Rollins or if it was a shoot but this speculation only adds to the fun for wrestling fans. Punk’s return had been speculated about for months since his release from AEW but based off the reports in the weeks leading it seemed that WWE was not interested and the reunion wouldn’t be happening. But last week according to reports a phone call between Punk and WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H set up the return that shocked the world. Reports read almost nobody was told about Punk’s return and he showed up backstage not long before he came out and only a select few people were informed including the main event participants right before the match. It will be fascinating to see where Punk’s WWE return leads, love him or hate him CM Punk is a massive superstar who is incredibly talented and tonight’s Raw and going forward WWE’s popularity is set to soar to the moon with Punk’s and the previously mentioned Orton’s returns
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