CM Punk Injured, Needs Surgery, Interim AEW Champ to Be Crowned

An emotional CM Punk announced tonight on Rampage that he is injured and will need surgery, but this is just a “bump in the road” and he will be back.

He will remain AEW World Champion and a new Interim World Champion will be crowned at the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door PPV on June 26. This Wednesday on Dynamite, a battle royal will kick off the show and the winner will face #1 contender Jon Moxley that same night on Dynamite in the main event. The winner of that match will then go on to compete against another opponent (yet to be announced) for the Interim Championship at the Forbidden Door PPV. Hiroshi Tanahashi was originally scheduled to face CM Punk at the PPV, so he seems like a likely candidate for the interim title match.

Fightful Select reported that Punk was telling people backstage that he hurt his foot after Wednesday’s match on Dynamite.

“The bad news is, I’m injured and I need surgery,” Punk said during his in-ring promo on Rampage tonight. “A couple of things are broken. The biggest one is my heart. Because I love nothing more than performing for all of you and I wanted to go on one hell of a run. That’s the bad news.”

“The good news is, I can still do all that,” he continued. “I told you I was gonna go until the wheels fall off. Well, the wheels are still there. They haven’t fallen off. It’s just that one of them happens to be broken.”

“But I’ve come back from worse. This is a bump in the road. It hurts like hell. I wanna wrestle for you. I wanna wrestle right now.”

Punk said that he offered to relinquish the title before the show, but Tony Khan didn’t want him to.

“I told Tony before I came out here that I don’t want to hold this place up. There is a long laundry list of talent in the back that can fill my shoes, that can be champion. I’m talking Bryan Danielson. I’m talking Jon Moxley. I’m not here to stand in anybody’s way. I told Tony I would relinquish this title, but he told me that he believes in CM Punk. And he believes that this is just a bump in the road and I’ll tell you, God damn it, I needed to hear that. Because sometimes I get a little down on myself. And then doubt creeps in. And that doubt can ruin anything. But standing here in front of you, I’m gonna promise you one thing. I’m not gonna let that doubt creep in. I’m not gonna let it ruin anything. And the get back is gonna be bigger than the setback. I’m champion for a reason and I’m gonna show you exactly why. I’m gonna come back bigger, faster, stronger and hungrier than ever before! And God damn it, I will prove exactly why I am the best in the world!”