On Saturday, we got the much hyped return of CM Punk to AEW at the debut of Collision. After ten months away, the Chicago crowd loudly welcomed him back. In his show opening promo, Punk took a few shots at the Elite to the delight of the hometown fans. With Forbidden Door taking place this weekend in Toronto, Wednesday's Dynamite will first stop in Chicago. So can we expect to see CM Punk in Chicago again or is he being relegated to Collision?
According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, sources close to CM Punk “claimed that he was planned for the June 21 show.” So where does that leave The Elite of Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, and "Hangman" Adam Page? After their post All In brawl last September, Punk and The Elite have been kept away from each other. According to Punk in his ESPN interview, lawyers won't even let him speak to The Elite and there have been reports of keeping the rivals on different brands. Sapp added that The Elite have already taped segments for Dynamite and “there's a good chance they're not in the arena” on Wednesday. (h/t WrestlingNews.co)
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Can Keeping CM Punk & The Elite Separated Work?
It makes sense why The Elite would not be on Dynamite this week. The Chicago crowd got ugly the last time the group was on a Chicago show, and after the explicit chants directed their way on Collision, having them show up in person on Dynamite could get awkward and take away from the build to Forbidden Door, especially when The Elite are booked as the top babyfaces in AEW.
Does this make it look like Tony Khan is choosing Punk over The Elite, and is this something that can work in the future outside of Chicago? There have been varying reports of a brand split in AEW, with someone like Andrade El Idolo wanting to go so far as having brand exclusive championships, while Tony Khan has said that the brand split isn't locked in with any hard line drawn.
The biggest angle AEW could ever do would involve some variation of The Elite vs CM Punk. That means the two sides would have to come together and make peace first, and nothing over the last several months has shown that they are close to any resolution. No matter if Punk and The Elite end up working together or not, keeping the men who helped create AEW off Dynamite any time CM Punk is going to be on the show doesn't seem like a long term realistic solution.
