We've been here before. When CM Punk walked out of the WWE back in 2014, there was an immediate clamour for his return.

Of course, there was plenty of bad blood (and podcasts and lawsuits), but fans pointed to the likes of Bruno Sammartino, Ultimate Warrior, Alundra Blayze/Madusu and Bret Hart.

If those characters could return after their serious fallouts with the WWE, then surely it wasn't impossible that CM Punk would one day come home.

Punk – real name Phil Brooks – had retired from wrestling, but as his short-lived UFC career floundered, a comeback seemed more and more possible.

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He dipped his toe back in the water with Fox's WWE show Backstage, and it looked like things were moving in the right direction.

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But when Punk did return to the squared circle, it wasn't with the WWE.

The establishment and explosion of All Elite Wrestling meant that Punk could return to his great love without going crawling back to the WWE, and initially he grabbed it with both hands.

On signing with AEW in 2021, he initially was a massive success and became AEW World Champion, but there was first an untimely injury, and then growing backstage conflict that eventually exploded.

Just hours after CM Punk became AEW World Champion for the second time at All Out in September 2022 came a tempestuous press conference and backstage altercation people are still picking the bones out of.

Suspensions, further injury and then a return that people thought may not happen.

CM Punk wielded the so-called Real World Championship and fronted new AEW TV show Collision.

But if it was hoped that separating him from his backstage enemies would keep things calm, it didn't come to pass.

Moments before he defeated Samoa Joe at Wembley Stadium to retain his "Real World Championship" at All In there was another backstage altercation, and not that long after Punk was released by the company "with cause".

Since then there's been plenty of talk of a return to WWE all of a sudden.

During his time out before his final comeback, Punk visited Raw backstage in April 2023 when it was at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, not far from his home

Not only did he natter to current WWE talent and apparently bury the hatchet with The Miz, he even had a couple of minutes' chat with the company's Chief Content Officer Triple H.

The whispers of him jumping from AEW to WWE during this downtime didn't come to pass, but now he's officially no longer All Elite (and surely never will be again), is that door going to be opened once more?

CM Punk has hinted that he has about two months free... that means he would seemingly be free to return to the WWE in time for Survivor Series on Saturday, November 25.

At the Allstate Arena. In Chicago.

Is it something that could really happen? More importantly, is it something you want to happen?

Shawn Michaels has even teased the possibility of CM Punk on his brand over in Florida.

"He’s a guy that does numbers and makes money," he told Haus of Wrestling.

"That would be a risk-reward ratio that from a company standpoint, they’d have to consider.

"When it comes to, 'Would we take him in NXT and have him on our television?' Are you kidding me? Of course I would. I just don’t think anybody would let me.

"Who wouldn't take that kind of star power? I don't know. If I get in trouble for that, I’ll let you know."

So, vote in our poll at the top of this article and let us know your thoughts.

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Would you like to see CM Punk return to the WWE? Let us know at @digitalspywwe.