There was a lot of speculation surrounding CM Punk and the AEW World Championship before Rampage aired tonight. Many fans were worried about the superstar after he seemed to injure himself on Dynamite earlier in the week. Punk's ominous tweet prior to the show's airing added more fears for the superstar.

It turns out that those fears were completely valid: Punk announced that he would be undergoing surgery in the near future. The AEW star revealed that he did in fact suffer an injury on that fateful match. CM Punk would then reassure fans that he would come back from his injury stronger than ever, saying: (via B/R Wrestling)

https://twitter.com/BRWrestling/status/1532917252982382593

Despite his status as the AEW Champion, CM Punk continued to fight in other non-title matchups during his reign. Wednesday night's Dynamite show saw Punk team up with FTR to defeat Max Caster and the Gunn Club. While executing a routine stage dive, Punk seemingly hurt his foot.

CM Punk would continue with the live show, but it was clear from a backstage segment that the AEW star was hobbled. That, along with backstage whispers of Punk's injury, made fans very concerned about CM Punk's status.

It's still unclear, though, what would happen to the AEW World Championship after Punk's injury. CM Punk's promo indicated that he tried to relinquish the title, but Tony Khan refused. On commentary, though, Chris Jericho noted that Punk would have to vacate his title due to this. Either way, we'll get a lot more clarity on this topic in the upcoming episodes.

UPDATE:Ā AEW has announced that there will be an interim World Champion during Punk's absence from in-ring work. A Battle Royale will be held on Dynamite to determine who will face #1 contender Jon Moxley at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view for the interim title.

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