More details on roster split AEW said to be considering for CM Punk’s return

One of the many reports we got this week about CM Punk & AEW indicated meetings between Punk and some of the other stars on the roster he’s been beefing with could take place ahead of his return to the company. Given that, it’s not surprising to read this from Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

As reported here the past two weeks, a Punk return is largely expected. It’s a tenuous situation because the dressing room issues involving him have not been settled at all at press time.

But there’s a plan for if meetings with Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Chris Jericho & others don’t happen, or don’t go well. As another of this week’s Punk/AEW reports mentioned, Meltzer writes that Tony Khan is considering partitioning Punk and those willing to work with him off to the Saturday show said to be coming to TBS or TNT soon:

The working idea was that the Saturday show would star Punk and that they would split crews to a large degree.

Problem is, Dave says a deal for what would AEW’s third show on the Warner Bros Discovery channels hasn’t been finalized. It was apparently originally discussed as a two hour show “with equal the star power” of Dynamite... but we also heard that Rampage wouldn’t be a b-show either after it launched in 2021.

Even if the new show is Dynamite 2.0, the rumored Saturday at 6:05pm start time would likely mean having to deal with preemptions for sports coverage on either TBS or TNT. The Observer report also discusses a couple other challenges to this plan:

“History does show that the splitting crews never lasts long, but in this case the idea is to ease the dressing room problems in the sense those who have not made up would be kept on different crews and wouldn’t have to interact with each other.

“Still, there are going to be instances, such as PPV shows or Wembley Stadium and some television shows where it has to be all hands on deck.”

Interested in Wednesdays with The Elite, Jericho & Jon Moxley and Saturdays with Punk & FTR... for however long that might last?