Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

CM Punk Injury Update

If you have been wondering why CM Punk never actually provided an injury update when he appeared on the June 21 episode of SmackDown, there is a reason for that.

Per Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), as of June 28, The Best in the World had not been medically cleared to compete.

It seemed like this was the case when WWE had Drew McIntyre attack Punk offscreen before laying his limp body out on the stage in front of the Chicago crowd.

The entire build for Punk appearing on SmackDown—he is normally a Raw Superstar—was because he was going to his doctor early in the week with the hope he would receive medical clearance to perform in the ring again.

There was some assumption that WWE would start building toward the Punk-McIntyre match for SummerSlam. While it's possible he could still be cleared in time to do the match on that show, it doesn't appear it has happened yet.

Punk is recovering from a torn triceps suffered during the men's Royal Rumble match that required surgery. That was his first televised match after returning to WWE at Survivor Series.

McIntyre will square off with Ilja Dragunov and Sheamus in a Triple Threat on Monday's Raw to determine the final entrant in the men's Money in the Bank match.

There could be more build in the Punk-McIntyre storyline either on Monday night or at Money in the Bank on Saturday, but it could depend on the health status for The Best in the World.

Asuka Reportedly Not Expected Back Until 2025

Another key injury in WWE right now involves Asuka's recovery from knee surgery.

In a recent fan Q&A on Fightful Select (h/t H Jenkins of Ringside News), Sapp noted she isn't expected to return by the end of this year.

Asuka was originally supposed to be in the Queen of the Ring tournament, but she was replaced by fellow Damage CTRL member Dakota Kai against Lyra Valkyria on the May 6 episode of Raw.

The decision to pull The Empress of Tomorrow from the tournament came two days after she and Kairi Sane lost the women's tag team titles to Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill at Backlash.

Asuka posted a picture to X on June 5 in which she was in a hospital bed with her left knee heavily wrapped and in a brace, indicating she had surgery.

The injury occurred during the March 15 episode of SmackDown. It's unclear how it happened, as she was at ringside with the other members of Damage CTRL to watch Dakota Kai take on Bayley.

Asuka was seen limping around the ring late in the match and when she got in the ring after the bout was over.

The loss of The Empress came at a time when the star power in the women's division had already taken some hits with Charlotte Flair still out with a knee issue, Rhea Ripley nursing a shoulder problem and Becky Lynch taking a hiatus after losing to Liv Morgan on the May 27 episode of Raw.

WWE has done a good job of building up new main roster names in the division, including Tiffany Stratton and Lyra Valkyria, without arguably the four biggest women's stars in the promotion available.

Hopefully, Asuka will be able to return in time to compete in the 2025 Royal Rumble that is scheduled to take place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

WWE Reportedly Interested in Hikuleo

As WWE continues to build toward Roman Reigns' return and a seemingly inevitable feud with the new Bloodline, there could also be a new member added to the expanding stable.

On the Fightful Select Q&A podcast (h/t Mukherjee), Sapp noted that WWE has been interested in signing Hikuleo for a "long, long time."

"Yeah, dating back to about a year and a half ago," he said. "Quite some time. They got interest in him. I don't know if he's signed or anything like that as of yet, but they had interest in him for a long, long time."

Hikuleo's contract with New Japan Pro-Wrestling is believed to have expired last month. He hasn't worked a match since he and El Phantasmo lost a four-way elimination tag match for the IWGP and Strong openweight tag titles at Dominion on June 9.

There has been speculation that Hikuleo is going to end up in WWE. His real-life brother, Tama Tonga, debuted in WWE as a member of The Bloodline when he attacked Jimmy Uso on the April 12 episode of SmackDown.

Reigns could be in the mix for a match at SummerSlam on August 3, which would be his first bout since losing to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40.

The Tribal Chief seems poised to return as a babyface against his former Bloodline members after Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Jacob Fatu powerbombed Paul Heyman through the announce table to close last week's episode of SmackDown.

Hikuleo would presumably debut with the new Bloodline alongside those three and Solo Sikoa.

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