After seven years, CM Punk won his first World Championship after defeating Hangman Page at AEW Double or Nothing this past Sunday. However, the newly crowned Champion was scheduled to face NJPW wrestler Hiroshi Tanahashi at Forbidden Door. But now plans have completely changed.
Before AEW Rampage, AEW World Champion tweeted that he had an important thing to say regarding his title and career. CM Punk kicked off the second half of AEW Rampage and announced that he is injured and needs surgery. However, there is no report on how and when the injury happened.
I’m injured and I need surgery, a couple of things are broken, the biggest thing is my heart.
This past Wednesday on AEW Dynamite, CM Punk and FTR faced Max caster and Gunn Club in a six-man tag team match. We can speculate that he was injured during the match. However, Punk is not relinquishing his AEW World Championship, but an Interim AEW Champion will be crowned in late June.
AEW announced that there would be a battle royal to kick off the show on next week’s AEW Dynamite. The winner of the battle royal will face the #1 contender Jon Moxley in the main event, and the winner of that match will challenge for the Interim AEW World Championship at Forbidden Door.
On the NJPW side, Hiroshi Tanahashi will face Hirooki Goto in an Eliminator Match at the Dominion event on June 12th. The winner of the match will qualify for the Interim AEW World Championship opportunity at Forbidden Door on June 26th.
Whoever wins the Interim AEW World Championship, that wrestler must face CM Punk for the Undisputed AEW World Championship match when Punk returns to the squared circle.
We will update you when we receive more details. Stay tuned with The Spotlight.