After nine months on the shelf, CM Punk will make his highly anticipated return on June 17 at AEW Collision, per CEO and general manager Tony Khan on Wednesday's edition of AEW Dynamite.

Punk had not been seen on AEW programming since All Out in September 2022 when he defeated Jon Moxley in the main event to become a two-time AEW world champion.

The 44-year-old veteran reportedly suffered a torn left triceps during the match, though, meaning he would have to miss several months of action and vacate the AEW world title.

It marked the second time Punk got injured immediately upon becoming AEW world champion, as he suffered a foot injury after beating "Hangman" Adam Page for the title at Double or Nothing in May 2022.

On that occasion, Punk remained AEW world champion while he was healing, but a series of matches were held to determine an interim world champion, which ended up being Moxley.

Punk had his return match on the Aug. 24, 2022, episode of Dynamite, losing a unification bout to Mox. Less than two weeks later, Punk defeated Moxley in the rematch at All Out, but also got injured again.

After leaving WWE following the 2014 Royal Rumble match, Punk was out of pro wrestling for more than seven years until he resurfaced in AEW in August 2021.

Punk was arguably the most compelling and entertaining part of AEW programming for the next year, and losing him because of injury on two occasions was a major blow to the promotion.

As Punk's anticipated return to action got closer, reports surfaced regarding AEW potentially building an entire show around him.

Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast (h/t Matthew Aguilar of ComicBook.com) reported that AEW planned to create a two-hour weekly Saturday show called Collision, with Punk being the face of the brand.

AEW confirmed the creation of Collision shortly thereafter, and although Punk wasn't immediately revealed as the headliner, the first episode was booked to take place in his hometown of Chicago.

While Punk has been surrounded by some controversy during his AEW run, there is no doubt that he is among the biggest stars and draws in the business, so bringing him back into the fold is an understandable move on AEW's part.

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