CM Punk returned to WWE at Survivor Series two weeks ago, and last night, he officially signed his contract to become a WWE Raw Superstar. This is good news for General Manager Adam Pearce and potential suitors of WWE’s Monday night product. Infamously, upon his return to AEW following the All Out media scrum, Punk revealed that Warner Brothers Discovery CEO David Zaslov gave him the nickname “One Bill Phil.” The moniker is meant to imply that having Punk on your show could land you a one-billion-dollar TV rights deal.
Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer posted the following on social media today, sending the rumor mill into overdrive about what it could mean.
“Things are changing greatly,” he cryptically teased. “Let’s just say things changed greatly with Raw negotiations from a few weeks ago. And Punk is a huge part of the selling point.”
As we exclusively reported last month, Tony Khan was approached by The CW in June 2022 about bringing ROH content to the network. Khan declined the talks because he wanted to wait for AEW’s TV rights to come up in early 2024 so he could shop both brands around the market together. That means that Khan has yet to reach a new deal with Warner Brothers Discovery at a time when WWE is looking to lock its own down. As of now, SmackDown is heading to the USA Network next year, while NXT goes to The CW.
Khan has often spoken about his close relationship with Warner and how strong of a partner he believes them to be. It seems far-fetched to think that WWE Raw could be headed to TBS or TNT, but stranger things have happened. Endeavor Streaming, owned by TKO Group Holdings’ parent company, will soon begin streaming TNA+, and The CW will still air WOW alongside NXT.
On today’s ROH Final Battle media call, Khan confirmed that he had met with Warner officials today, and that talks continue to go well. He also confirmed our report about passing on talks with The CW about ROH.
Haus of Wrestling is working to find out more about what is going on regarding Meltzer’s tease.