About two hours before tonight’s live episode (June 3) of Rampage began, AEW World Champion CM Punk posted the following tweet:
I will be sure #AEWRampage live tonight with an important announcement regarding the @aew world championship and my career. Please log in at 9:00 PM CST / 10:00 PM EST.
— player/coach (@CMPunk) June 4, 2022
There was speculation that Punk suffered an injury on this week’s (June 1) episode of dynamite. He was visibly limping during the show. This tweet only amplified fears that Punk had been hurt.
The world champion appeared live in the middle of the ring tonight, and he had tears in his eyes before he even said a word. Punk was heartbroken as he told fans they deserved an explanation. He hinted that he had a broken foot and would be out of action for a while due to surgery. The good news is that it’s just a bump in the road. Punk promised to come back bigger, stronger and faster than ever. He will show everyone why he is the best in the world.
There was a ton of confusion over whether or not he was giving up the world title. Punk said he didn’t want to keep the spot, but Tony Khan didn’t want him to give up the title. The segment ended with no clarification of what that meant for the title.
Chris Jericho has repeatedly stated in commentary that Punk is relinquishing the title. A few minutes later, the comments corrected themselves. Punk does not give up the title. An interim champion will be crowned at Forbidden Door June 26. There will be a battle royale to launch Dynamite next week. The winner of this match takes on Jon Moxley in the main event of Dynamite. The winner of this match travels to Forbidden Door in the match to crown an interim champion. The interim champion will next face CM Punk to unify the titles upon his return from injury.
AEW frantically provided this extremely confusing explanation during the end of a TNT Championship match between Scorpio Sky and Dante Martin. It was a gigantic mess.
What is your reaction to this shocking news, Cagesiders?