Prior to being fired from All Elite Wrestling, CM Punk was calling himself the ‘Real’ World Champion. This led some fans to believe that a match with MJF would eventually be coming.
Following CM Punk’s termination from AEW after the All In 2023 incident with Jack Perry, the company went with an MJF vs. Samoa Joe feud. This obviously caused speculation that Joe was a replacement for Punk, which was similar to Bryan Danielson replacing CM Punk in the latter’s feud with Ricky Starks.
According to a report from Fightful Select, the plans for a Samoa Joe vs. MJF feud were already in place prior to CM Punk’s firing. It was added that there were no immediate plans for CM Punk and MJF to feud over the ‘real’ world title.
