CM Punk likely off WrestleMania card due to injury in Royal Rumble, surgery expected

Reports from WWE sources indicate C.M. Punk suffered a torn tricep at the Royal Rumble on Saturday night and will thus likely miss WrestleMania. An announcement could be made as soon as tonight on Raw after being evaluated today. Multiple backstage sources indicate he is at Raw and is injured.

It’s not clear where in the match it occurred, as he had an extended stretch of action with Cody Rhodes at the end which he executed without an obvious issue. It appears it could have been when Cody tossed Punk at the very end and one of his arms caught on the bottom rope as he was tumbling to the floor. He appeared to favor his right arm as soon as he landed, although cameras cut away. He was briefly shown rubbing that arm right above the elbow at the lower portion of the triceps muscle at ringside as Cody celebrated.

Other reports speculated that he injured it initially while taking a Future Shock DDT from Drew McIntyre earlier in the match. Punk did start favoring his right arm and moved to the corner after that and chatted with two referees, which is a standard way to communicate with everyone in situations like this including Paul Levesque on headset in the back. Punk, though, went on with the match including throwing several hard chops to Gunther’s chest and then Drew’s chest with his right arm afterward.

Punk was also slow getting up from a neckbreaker by Drew, but that could’ve just been selling. He finished the match, though, and executed several more moves after that including hoisting Drew over the top rope using his right arm and lifting Cody for his GTS twice. So if the initial injury occurred during the match, he continued on and was able to perform expected moves and bumps.

This is a major setback for Punk and WWE. Punk dreamed of getting back to WrestleMania as a top star after a series of backstage controversies and injury setbacks during his tumultuous run in AEW. WWE will have to re-calibrate their WrestleMania plans, which presumably included a match against Seth Rollins for the World Hvt. Title, perhaps one-on-one or perhaps a three-way with Drew McIntyre.

Punk had been described as “a model employee” since his return to WWE, including extended time interacting with young wrestlers in NXT and not giving off any signs of being difficult or moody backstage at WWE events as was often the case, according to colleagues of his, during his time in AEW.

UPDATE: WWE.com’s preview of Raw does not include any mention of Punk.