The WWE's PLE in Scotland is over, and as CinemaBlend's Mack Rawden correctly predicted for Clash at the Castle, Drew McIntyre couldn't defeat Damian Priest to gain the World Heavyweight Championship title. It wasn't for lack of effort, of course, but CM Punk's interference screwed him over yet again. Punk's return made it seem like an in-ring confrontation with McIntyre was imminent, and now rumors are starting to point to the upcoming WWE event where fans should be expecting that confrontation to happen.
WrestleVotes has a solid track record of reporting the behind-the-scenes details of WWE happenings, and it looks like they have some kind of read on when CM Punk will return to the ring after he injured his arm at the Royal Rumble. If these details hold up, we could see "The Best in the World" make a return fairly soon, though maybe later than some expected.
As of last week’s RAW roster sheet, CM Punk’s official return date was set for the end of July. I’m told he likely won’t be cleared for action by MITB on 7/6, but he should be ready for SummerSlam on 8/3.June 17, 2024
Given that this is a rumor, take it with all the "potentially inaccurate" grains of salt it requires. That said, it feels like a reasonable timeline for CM Punk's recovery, and it's not wild to think that the WWE and Punk would exercise more caution than now regarding his recovery.
We know the wrestler has dreamed of maineventing a night of WrestleMania for well over a decade, and as we pointed out in our takeaways from Clash at the Castle, Drew McIntyre is doing some of the best work of his entire career. These two deserve to headline WrestleMania, but they'll have to get there healthy first.
While Money In The Bank is a big chance for up-and-coming wrestlers to change the trajectory of their careers, it's not nearly as much of a marquee event for main eventers as SummerSlam is. From a booking perspective, it makes sense to make these two's first major showdown there rather than have them play second fiddle to the Money In The Bank matches.
It remains to be seen how much of a priority highlighting Drew McIntyre and CM Punk will be heading into WrestleMania season. The Rock has already made a bold proclamation about WrestleMania 41, making it sound like he's locked into main eventing at least one night of the festivities. With other major players like Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns still unaccounted for, will these two star in one of the main event matches we watch next year with a Peacock Premium subscription?
I'm optimistic they have a good shot, provided the injury bug stays away from them, and that might be a big if. It's no secret that CM Punk suffered from injury troubles during his run in AEW and missed some time outside of his other issues within the company.
Monday Night Raw airs on USA Network on Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET, and I'm assuming we'll see a lot of talk between Drew McIntyre and CM Punk there. I can't wait for the battles between these two to finally kick off, but it seems we'll have to wait a while before seeing it.
