With rumors abound about the return of CM Punk to AEW, fans, wrestlers, and pundits alike from all over the professional wrestling sphere have weighed in on how “The Best in the World” should return and who he should wrestle when the opportunity presents itself.

Will Punk go toe-to-toe with The Elite, a feud with very legitimate roots outside of the ring, and the match Dax Harwood of FTR has basically been begging for over the past few months? Or what about a feud with Chris Jericho and the JAS, which is the hot rumor at the moment? How about making his grand return at All In for a match against… Bill Goldberg? I know, I know, sounds crazy, right? Well, one person, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff, to be exact, suggested just that on his Strictly Business podcast, saying that, while he doesn't personally want to be in the Phil Brooks business, that match would be money.

“That I agree with, and that will probably be the tipping point for young Tony Khan is because there’s a lot of pressure on Tony. I think Wembley’s gonna be great, with or without Punk,” Bischoff said via Fightful. “I would prefer, if I was Tony Khan, to do it without Punk because that makes a real statement. Who drew the house? Did AEW draw the house, or did CM Punk draw the house? If I was Tony Khan, strategically, looking forward, I would absolutely not book CM Punk on that show, even though I would know that doing so would ensure more sales. I wouldn’t do. I wouldn’t sell my soul to that piece of garbage. I just wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t compromise my company. I wouldn’t dilute my leverage as a brand, depending on a guy who, six months ago, absolutely buried my company, while I was sitting right next to him, acting like a petulant 14-year-old piece of garbage. No, I wouldn’t do it, even though I know that putting CM Punk on the card would ensure a much better turnout. Hey, I’ve got an idea. Book CM Punk and Bill Goldberg. You wanna book something that’s gonna sell out Wembley, book that. Bill Goldberg’s last match against CM Punk. Dare you. Grab your balls, TK. Go with it. Dare you.”

Should Tony Khan take up Bishoff's challenge? Honestly, probably not, but you have to give it to the WCW personality, even though he's out of the game, once a booker, always a booker. If all of the obvious opponents are preoccupied heading into All In, why not give the WWE Hall of Famer a call to see if he wants that one final retirement match after all?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX6PNDIxny0

Bishoff wouldn't want to build his company around a personality like CM Punk.

Discussing the prospects of booking CM Punk for All In, or just AEW in general, Bischoff continued to explain why he wouldn't want to stake his company's success on the notoriously opinionated Chicago-based star.

“I wouldn’t compromise my company, or my roster or my brand depending on Phil Brooks,” Bishoff declared. “I just wouldn’t do it. I would want my roster and my company to be responsible for the success of Wembley, or even going forward beyond Wembley, not proving to the world that I am beholding and dependent upon one individual who is, at the very least, unprofessional, and in my opinion, highly overrated and overvalued.

“So yes, I think there is too much dependence on the idea of Punk coming in. It’s what’s driving the discourse around AEW right now. Nobody’s talking about anything else that’s going on in AEW. Nobody else gives a sh*t. The only thing they’re talking about is CM Punk. To me, that’s bad business. If that’s the only thing people are talking about with your company, after you’ve been around for four years and brought in the level of talent that you’ve brought in and making the moves that you’re trying to make, and all anybody wants to talk about is this pride of garbage, I think that’s a bad reflection on your company. Yes, you are too dependent on this one individual, and I think it’s a mistake. It’s one of the reasons why I feel as strongly as I feel about it.”

Is Bischoff correct? Is AEW's most dramatic storyline not actually taking place in the ring but instead on social media, podcasts, and YouTube videos? Sort of, yeah, but that doesn't mean bringing back Brooks couldn't generate very real numerical benefits for AEW. If Khan wants to recapture some of the momentum he lost to WWE over the last six months in terms of hype and fan excitement, getting back in bed with the ‘Chick Magnet” could be just the shot in the arm AEW needs.