Nick Aldis has been the general manager of SmackDown for roughly a month, when he was introduced in the role by Paul “Triple H” Levesque on October 12th and promptly ruffled a few feathers by stealing away Kevin Owens from the Red Brand.

On paper, that's a pretty weird way to introduce oneself to a largely new audience, as it's hard to imagine most of the fans watching along on FOX were actively keeping track of Aldis' thousand-day reign with the Ten Pounds of Gold in NWA, but the decision had more to do with establishing a no-nonsense attitude and unflappable desire to put his brand on top than anything to do with making friends. Sure, Aldis will have to work alongside Adam Pearce, Trips, and the rest of WWE's creative team, but he also wants to make sure that SmackDown is WWE's flagship show, as he didn't leave behind his in-ring career – at least in a Kayfabe sense – to be the number two behind “Scrap Daddy.”

You know, if Aldis really wants to make an impact, there's a certain free agent on the open market that some consider to be the “Best in the World” who could really make an impact in the proverbial arms race between the two brands: CM Punk.

Discussing Punker in a special appearance on BBC Radio, Aldis noted that he has a “great deal of respect” for what the “Second City Saint” brings to the table and knows that he can move numbers if allowed back into the WWE Universe.

“Well, yes I do know CM Punk, and I have a great deal of admiration for him. A great deal of respect for him. And I respect the fact that no matter what you might think of him, and you don’t necessarily have to agree with every decision he’s made professionally, there’s not many people that have more conviction in this industry than him. And to me, I don’t think you can do anything except admire the h*ll out of that,” Nick Aldis told the BBC via Cageside Seats.

“He’s built and cultivated a huge fan base. He sells a ton of merchandise. He moves numbers. He sells tickets. He sells merchandise. He puts butts in seats. Call me old-fashioned, but that trumps everything else.

“There is a way. There is a way for him to compete in the WWE. And I think that if it can be done, I think there’s a way it could be really good business for everybody. And I will wait with bated breath, like everyone else, to see if it happens. But if it does, I’ll be excited to be involved with it.”

Alright, so if Aldis is willing to work with CM Punk, and CM Punk has reportedly been flirting with returning to WWE for what feels like the entirety of 2023, it sounds like the two sides just need to put pen to paper and make a deal, right? Not necessarily, as, again, Aldis' power largely comes from a Kayfabe sense, with far less say on the actual hirings and firings of WWE than he would have you believe on television. While he may enjoy working with the “Best in the World,” in the end, it's all but certainly not his decision to make.

Nick Aldis explains his decision to suspend Kevin Owens.

Stopping by The Bump on his one-man media tour ahead of Survivor Series, Nick Aldis discussed another one of his Kayfabe moves as the SmackDown GM: Suspending Kevin Owens after he attacked Grayson Waller and Austin Theory.

Now granted, most fans could see the decision coming from miles away, as the setup was as clear as day, Aldis noted that he had to do what he had to do, as he had to maintain the credibility of his word.

“It wasn’t a tough decision. I’m the man who facilitated KO coming to the blue brand. I think he’s one of the very top competitors in the WWE. But I have to stick to my word. As a leader and as an executive, my word is everything. In this business, your word is your bond. That is a mantra as old as the hills in our industry,” Nick Aldis said via Fightful.

“I told KO earlier in the night, ‘Yes, you can sit in for Corey Graves. But please don’t get physical.' Because it’s such an obvious outcome when you’re dealing with the type of personalities that we’re dealing with on Friday nights. So I svaid, ‘Look, you have to be a leader to the locker room. You have to rise above juvenile provocation, and you have to set an example for our young superstars, and not get physical, not get involved in matches, not influence the outcome of WWE contests, particularly at such a pivotal moment in the calendar leading into Survivor Series.’ He didn’t follow through with that, and I had no choice but to follow through with my word, which was, if you do, I have no choice but to suspend you. So he left me no choice. Certainly not a nefarious thing, certainly it a malicious thing. It’s just my word, and my word is my bond, and as a professional, I had no choice.”

Does WWE have something interesting up its sleeve to use this suspension to further KO's storyline? Yes, that almost certainly is the case. What is it? Fans will have to tune into SmackDown to find out.