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Over the last 12 hours, we've been indulged with questions and interest about CM Punk being backstage at Monday Night Raw for a bit last night, so rather than making 10,000 posts, I'll attempt to answer everything here via the following timeline, which will hopefully answer everyone's questions:
*CM Punk was in Florida over the weekend doing commentary for MMA promotion Cage Fury Fighting Championships.
*When flying out of Tampa yesterday, he ended up on the same flight as several WWE talents and staff, including one Producer and was sitting next to some of them on the flight.
*At that point, Punk learned WWE was at the Allstate Arena, which is in a close proximity to his home in Chicago.
*At some point before the show was to begin, Punk arrived at the venue and was brought into the building by other talents.
*Punk was in a common area in full view of anyone who came past him backstage and ran into Paul Levesque. We are told by someone who saw the interaction that the two shook hands and Punk asked if it was OK that he visit and if Levesque had time, could they speak for two minutes. Levesque allegedly said he had to make sure with the "big guy" it was OK, obviously a reference to Vince McMahon. It was perhaps a one to two minute interaction, if even that.
*Punk remained in that area and spoke to a number of talents who happened to be walking by, including The Miz. We are told that they spoke for some time, clearing whatever issues were between them from the time period Punk was on WWE Backstage.
*Those who saw Punk greeted him warmly. There were some who had a "what was he doing here?" reaction, but that was something said later by those who hadn't actually run into him.
*Punk was never behind any closed doors or rooms, remaining in that common area. There were no "secret meetings" or anything of that sort.
*Within 20 minutes or so, Punk was sent word by WWE security that he wasn't going to be allowed to remain and he exited. We are told that Punk was respectful of that decision, said his goodbyes and left. We were told he was respectful of everyone the entire time he was backstage, which wasn't long.
*As we noted yesterday, one source felt that Punk was asked to leave because he was under an AEW contract. A different WWE source this morning felt that wasn't accurate, pointing out Malakai Black and Andrade el Idolo were allowed on WWE TV, sitting with their wives at the WWE Hall of Fame recently in Los Angeles. That different WWE source pointed out that the difference with Punk was that the way he left and that there was a lot of "legal" history between the two sides in the past, so this would be a completely different situation.
*For those who have asked if this was Punk trying to gauge WWE interest, we are told no. He's still under contract to AEW for what one person termed a "lengthy" amount of time and couldn't even negotiate with WWE at this point.
*Based on the response from those within AEW, this wasn't something most, if anyone, in AEW knew was going to happen as the immediate reaction was that this had to be some sort of lie that was being passed around. This absolutely, in my opinion, was not something that was done on AEW's end to try and create interest for themselves.
*Even within WWE, the initial reaction that Punk had even visited was complete disbelief and with the exception of those who actually saw him, many thought it was a fake story. We actually had a WWE Exec call and ask if the site had been hacked after we broke the story that Punk was backstage.
*For those who asked if Punk was there to try and pull some sort of publicity stunt, we are told that wasn't the case. This wasn't some sort of explosive moment or anything that was filmed by someone, even with a cell phone, to try and grab footage to go viral.
*One person under contract to WWE who saw Punk there said it came off as if Punk was just trying to kill whatever past heat there was between himself and Miz and theorized that may have been why he wanted to speak with Levesque as well. As they said, "Isn't nine to ten years enough time of carrying whatever bad blood there is?"
*So, it just happened that Punk was at his home in Chicago on the same day Raw was within minutes of his home and, apparently, said the hell with it and went over to visit. From all we have spoken to, it just happened to be the timing that led to Punk going there on a whim.
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