Jim Ross Still Believes CM Punk Will Come Back To AEW

It's been reported that the majority of the AEW locker room doesn't want CM Punk to return following Brawl Out and his recent comments in which he called out Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho in a now-deleted Instagram post. However, Jim Ross isn't one of those people. During the latest episode of his "Grilling JR" podcast, the AEW announcer said that he wants to see Punk back in an AEW ring at some point.

According to Ross, Punk is good for AEW's business, and he's confident that he'll be able to able to work with the promotion again. "I'm one of those guys who believes he will be back... I think AEW needs CM Punk because of his star power and he brings, with controversy creates cash. And he's certainly controversial, and I'm a big fan of Phil's."

Ross went on to say that he's "optimistic" about Punk coming back. As of this writing, though, the former AEW World Champion's future in the wrestling business is up in the air. The aforementioned Instagram post saw him criticize his AEW program with Jon Moxley and reveal that he wrestled without being medically cleared to compete, so he might not be in a hurry to lace up his boots again.

Earlier this week, Moxley commented on the backstage drama, revealing that he was under no obligation to even work with Punk as he wasn't contracted to AEW at the time. He said that he "[bent] over backwards" to put Punk over on pay-per-view and do right by the company, even though he didn't have to.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Grilling JR" with an h/t to Wrestling Inc.