CM Punk, who was fired by rival AEW two months prior, makes a comeback to the WWE at "Survivor Series."
CM Punk made a surprise comeback to WWE on Saturday night at "Survivor Series: WarGames" on Peacock, a decade after leaving the wrestling promotion in an acrimonious split.
Following the conclusion of the men's WarGames main event battle, Punk's music played to a tremendous response from the audience, followed by Punk stepping out and celebrating with them.
WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" responded to concerns about Punk's comeback at a post-show press conference, saying, "This was one of those lightning-in-a-bottle moments that came together very quickly."
According to Levesque, executives at WWE's new parent company TKO Group Holdings (after Endeavor's purchase and merger with UFC) were not involved in the decision to bring Punk on board.
"There has been no push from anyone other than WWE." This is [WWE President] Nick Khan. To be honest, very few people understood anything about it after that," Levesque explained.
"It's a funny thing, because now there's this mysterious entity behind WWE." We're doing our thing, and we're trusted to do it, as well as to do what we believe is best for business.
And, to be honest, I'm sure the upper brass at TKO were watching the performance and saying, 'Holy s-t.'"
While the possibility of Punk returning to WWE has been discussed since he was ousted from rival company AEW in September, especially with the Survivor Series event taking place in his birthplace of Chicago