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Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.
Jericho on Whether He Wants Punk in AEW
Amid rumors that CM Punk and Daniel Bryan are poised to join AEW in the near future, Chris Jericho was asked about his thoughts on Punk signing with the company.
In an interview with Kenny McIntosh of Inside The Ropes Wrestling, Jericho said the following about whether he wants Punk to enter the fray:
“Well, I mean, the short answer is, ‘Of course.’ I mean, he’s one of the few guys out there that has this mythology surrounding him because he hasn’t wrestled so long.
“Take Punk out of the equation. Sting is with us now. Edge is back in WWE. Christian is with us. But you take, other than that, guys who haven’t wrestled for a long time, he’s probably at the top of the list, unless you’re going to throw Steve Austin in there and you know Steve’s not going to come back.”
Punk hasn’t wrestled since the 2014 Royal Rumble, meaning he has been out of the business for well over seven years.
Despite that and the fact that he is now 42 years of age, there is clearly a huge appetite among fans to see him back in a ring.
Jericho alluded to that fact by mentioning how quickly the upcoming AEW Rampage at the United Center in Punk’s hometown of Chicago sold out:
“So, it would create a huge buzz that would add to the already huge buzz that we have, and I think just the fact that 12,000 tickets sold at the United Center without one name even being announced, or one match even being announced, shows just how much anticipation there is for all of these things. So, yeah, we’ll see what happens.”
While AEW hasn’t announced anything specific for the United Center show, the quick sellout was undoubtedly a byproduct of fans expecting Punk to make his AEW debut that night in his hometown.
Punk’s AEW debut and return to wrestling would be a historic moment, and the upcoming All Out pay-per-view on Sept. 5 also being set for Chicago makes the timing all the more perfect.
Any wrestling company would benefit greatly in terms of generating buzz and excitement by adding Punk, and it looks like AEW is already reaping those benefits.
Balor Talks When He Intends to Retire
Finn Balor is at the top of his game in WWE, but at the age of 40, it is fair to wonder how much longer he wants to remain in the professional wrestling business.
In an interview with WWE Die Woche (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), Balor addressed his wrestling future, saying:
“Crazy because when I was like 29, which seems like a long time ago now, I felt like, ‘Oh, maybe I’ve got five years left.’ And now that I’m a little older and a little smarter and a little wiser, I feel like I’ve at least got another five if not 10 left in the tank so you know if I’m smart, if I’m economical with my movements, if I kind of pick my battles, I definitely think I got five-plus years left in the tank for sure.”
Balor has shown no signs of slowing down, and it can be argued that he has done the best work of his WWE career over the past couple of years.
After Balor was unable to return to the top of the food chain on the main roster following his Universal Championship win and subsequent injury in 2016, he went back to NXT in 2019.
That move revitalized Balor’s career, as he got away from the smiling babyface character he had been on the main roster and turned heel before settling into more of a tweener role.
Balor went on to win the NXT Championship and hold it for 212 days before dropping it to Karrion Kross. Along the way, Balor had incredible matches against Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Pete Dunne, among others.
After dropping the title to Kross, Balor got called back up to the main roster, and he is now part of SmackDown.
He defeated Sami Zayn in his return match and got himself involved in the storyline between universal champion Roman Reigns and John Cena. While Reigns accepted Balor’s status for SummerSlam, Baron Corbin blew the entire thing up, and Balor is now in a rivalry with Corbin.
WWE seems to be positioning Balor for a run at or near the top of SmackDown, and it is well deserved given what he accomplished in NXT.
Balor doesn’t look anywhere near the age of 40 in the ring, and as long as he continues to perform at the high level he is reaching currently, there is reason to believe he could keep wrestling for a long time to come.
Dunne’s WWE Contract Reportedly Expiring
Like Adam Cole, Pete Dunne’s WWE contract is reportedly set to expire in the near future.
According to Fightful Select (h/t WrestlingInc.com’s Marc Middleton), Dunne’s contract is expiring “some time after SummerSlam weekend” in late August.
It was previously reported by WrestlingInc.com’s Raj Giri that Cole’s contract was set to expire after SummerSlam as well.
The 27-year-old Dunne has competed under the WWE umbrella since 2016, when he made his debut as part of the United Kingdom Championship tournament. While Dunne didn’t win the tournament, he turned some heads and quickly won the title.
Dunne went on to hold the UK title for 685 days, which is a record that has since been broken by current champion Walter.
In addition to holding the UK title, Dunne has been in the mix for the NXT Championship and North American Championship, although he has fallen short in his attempts to win those titles.
Dunne did hold the NXT Tag Team Championships as one half of the Broserweights with Riddle, however.
During his time in WWE, Dunne has had no shortage of memorable matches against the likes of Tyler Bate, Walter, Damian Priest, Roderick Strong, Cole, Balor, O’Reilly and others.
Currently, Dunne is part of a stable with Oney Lorcan and Ridge Holland, who returned last week from injury.
Dunne isn’t involved in a title picture or a clear feud right now, which could be a sign that Triple H and NXT’s decision-makers don’t want to involve him in anything significant until or unless he gets signed to a new deal.
It would be a big loss for NXT if Dunne decides to sign elsewhere, but given how bloated the AEW roster is becoming and how little television time it has to allocate compared to WWE, re-signing may be the best move for Dunne in terms of having a chance to be a top guy.
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