With his WrestleMania main event dreams on hold, CM Punk is going to make sure he’s as healthy as possible instead of rushing back from his latest injury setback.

Punk made his dramatic return to WWE after nearly a decade away last fall at Survivor Series. He took his time getting back in the ring, but misfortune struck anyway, as he tore a triceps while finishing runner-up in the 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble.

Punk’s injury forced a reshuffling of WWE’s WrestleMania 40 plans, which pretty clearly involved him winning at Elimination Chamber — Punk was announced for the show in Perth in mid-January — to face Seth Rollins in Philadelphia.

With that no longer an option, Punk told Caroline Pearce of TNT Sports at UFC 298 that he’s got a timetable for a return that targets the second half of 2024 (h/t Fightful for the transcription).

I’m like an old cobbler car. I’m like a ’72 Nova, you know what I mean? We have to change some parts every now and again. So once we fix up all the parts, the engine’s still strong, we’ll still be good to go. We’re thinking maybe six to eight months, but I’m not really in a rush to get back to compete. I’m in a rush to get healthy. I’m in a rush to get better. The sooner I do that, the better I’ll be when I come back.

What stinks about that timeframe for Punk’s fans is that it likely rules out SummerSlam as well. Barring any setbacks, it would put him back in the mix for Survivor Series this fall, and there would be some nice symbolism if his next match were to take place at the show where he made his 2023 comeback.

Until then, expect WWE to find other ways to make use of Punk while he’s recuperating, as was the case when he co-hosted the WrestleMania XL Kickoff event in Las Vegas earlier this month.