CM Punk’s return to WWE will hit a long pause just as it was getting started. 

The 45-year-old Punk, who just shockingly came back to the company in November after nearly 10 years at Survivor Series, suffered a torn right triceps during the men’s Royal Rumble match at Tropicana Field on Saturday, he confirmed during the opening segment of “Monday Night Raw.”

PW Insider reported that Punk is heading toward surgery that could keep him out of action for 4-6 months.

Punk, who was believed to be penciled in for a WrestleMania 40 main event match with World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins confirmed he will not be healthy for the event in Philadelphia. Punk has never main-evented a WrestleMania.

“It’s just not in the cards,” Punk said on Raw. “I don’t want anybody to feel sorry for me because when I think of this situation and how much it bums me out, how much I have talked from the highest mountains about how my goal and my dream ever since I was a little kid was to main event WrestleMania, maybe it’s just not ever gonna happen.”

The injury appeared to have happened when Punk took a Future Shock DDT from Drew McIntyre during the Rumble, in Punk’s first televised match since he came back. 

After he hit the mat, Punk immediately reached for his right triceps.

Punk, who said he felt “a little bit unlucky” finished the match and was in the final two with eventual winner Cody Rhodes.

“WrestleMania scares me,” Punk said. “It’s a goal that might haunt me for the rest of my life, but this is just the bump in the road.”

This will be the second time Punk has suffered the injury in 16 months as it also happened to him after he won the AEW World championship for the second time at AEW’s All Out in September 2022 before his infamous press conference and backstage brawl with The Elite. 

Punk also broke his foot in June 2022 in AEW by diving into the crowd.

Rollins is also dealing with his own injuries, saying last week on Raw that he has a grade 2 tear of his MCL and a torn meniscus. 

He suffered it on an awkward landing to a moonsault during a title match against Jinder Mahal two weeks ago on Raw. 

Rollins is still set on performing at WrestleMania and said during an interview with former UFC champion Daniel Cormier last week, that he plans to rehab and “be back at full strength around a month.”

If Punk’s injury is as serious as believed, there will almost certainly be someone else standing across from Rollins in Philadelphia.

McIntyre confronted Punk on Raw for a storyline moment in which he said he targeted him in the Rumble. The two brawled for a bit to put heat on McIntyre to potentially lead to him being Punk’s WrestleMania replacement and set up a likely storyline feud when he returns.

Punk vowed not to give up on this dream.

“WrestleMania 40, I guess it’s not in the cards,” Punk said. “But I’m a Chicago Cubs fan and this isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last time I say this. There’s always next year.”