WWE News: CM Punk’s In-Ring Future Revealed; Former UFC Star Reportedly Won’t Appear At ‘Royal Rumble’

CM Punk has recently been linked with a return to WWE for the first time in seven years at tonight’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view, but there reportedly isn’t any truth to those rumors. According to Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com, he is scheduled to start filming the Starz series Heels in the coming weeks, which means he couldn’t return to the company even if he wanted to.

The report stated that Punk has been quarantining in Atlanta — where the show will be filmed — for the past several weeks. The former World Champion is expected to be a recurring character in the wrestling-themed series, and the only competing he’ll be doing, for the time being, will be against star Stephen Amell and other cast members.

The upcoming drama will tell the story of two brothers, one a babyface and the other a heel character. The pair have friction on the screen and behind the scenes after the death of their father, who was the promoter of the Georgia-based wrestling promotion they both worked for. Punk will play a rival to one of the wrestlers.

Punk originally auditioned for a role in the show back in 2017. While he didn’t land the part he was chasing, he impressed the casting directors so much that they offered him another role when the series was revived after production halted due to the coronavirus. PWInsider.com also revealed that wrestlers including Doc Gallows, Steve Richards, Perry Hawx and J Spade will also appear in the show.

As Sportskeeda pointed out, rumors of Punk returning to WWE for this weekend’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view began swirling after Booker T revealed that he’d heard “rumblings.” The Hall of Famer was confident that the “Straight Edge Superstar” would make an unexpected appearance.

“CM Punk’s name is in the news. CM Punk right now he’s still a hot commodity. CM Punk fans want to see Punk drop that elbow just one more time. Hopefully, he can straighten it out a little bit but definitely if fans had a choice to see one guy back, just one guy, I think CM Punk’s name would be very high up on that list, very very high. That’s just my opinion.”

The former UFC star left WWE in 2014 after being fired by the company following a fall-out with management. He subsequently got involved in a legal battle with the promotion that led to more bad blood, and he hasn’t competed in a wrestling match ever since.