Both Chris Jericho and CM Punk are taking time off from their WWE schedules currently – Jericho to tour with his rock band, Fozzy, and Punk to nurse several nagging injuries that have been plaguing him for the past year.
Monday Night Raw rolls into the UK next week, and while CM Punk has been removed from the tour, Chris Jericho is scheduled to appear, as his band will already be in the area on a tour of its own. Fozzy’s stretch overseas ends on May 10th, and while Jericho is not scheduled for any Raw or Smackdown dates following the tour, there are no known conflicts with working either WWE’s “Extreme Rules” or “Payback” pay-per-view. Fozzy is currently working on setting up a domestic tour of the United States this summer as well.
CM Punk is currently advertised to return on the May 13th episode of WWE Raw from Tulsa, OK – however, he is not scheduled to appear on that weekend’s “Extreme Rules” pay-per-view. The “Second City Saint” is set for all episodes of Raw after the 13th as well, and will return to pay-per-view for the June “Payback” event in his home town of Chicago, IL.
There is a conflicting report that CM Punk would be taking time off until SummerSlam to nurse his injuries, but it appears that this is no longer – or perhaps, was never – the case. Instead, WWE has removed him from all house show events until their return to Japan on July 4th and 5th. He will also join Raw crew on the July tour of Australia, while the Smackdown crew heads to South Africa.