Backstage News On Vince McMahon's Involvement In CM Punk's WWE Return

The wrestling world is still buzzing about CM Punk making his unprecedented return to WWE at Survivor Series. The "Second City Saint" returned to the company after nearly 10 years of a bitter and acrimonious separation. The former AEW World Champion returns to a WWE built with an entirely different hierarchy, however, as WWE merged with UFC to form TKO Group Holdings under UFC parent company Endeavor.

Fightful Select has reported that WWE figurehead Vince McMahon wasn't a part of the decision to bring CM Punk back to WWE. Instead the decision was made by WWE President Nick Khan and WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque. It's unknown whether or not McMahon would have pushed back on the deal if he had been a part of the process, but it's worth noting that he had shot down the possibility of bringing the former WWE Champion back into the fold when FOX was pushing for it. Punk did go on to work as an analyst for "WWE Backstage", but that was a deal entirely with FOX and not WWE. 

Punk's return to WWE was even more surprising after his inglorious departure from AEW earlier this year. He was fired with cause after an alleged backstage incident with Jack Perry, as well as general issues with Punk's attitude backstage. Irrespective of that, his deal to return was reportedly closed this week after speculation of his appearance at Survivor Series had only started to die down. He's believed to have joined on a multi-year deal but details are scarce.