A top WWE name was seen backstage at the NXT live event held in Tampa, Florida on Saturday night, July 19.

While WWE's main roster stars from Raw and SmackDown were performing in Corpus Christi, Texas, NXT delivered a show at the UACDC venue in Tampa. One major name who was in town for a different reason decided to stick around for the action.

CM Punk, who had been in Tampa to provide commentary for the Cage Fury Fighting Championships event on Friday, opted to extend his stay and attend NXT’s live event the following evening.

According to Cory Hays of PWNexus and BodySlam.net, Punk was spotted backstage at the show, despite having no official WWE obligations that night.

Hays shared the update on Twitter, posting:

“CM Punk was backstage at tonight’s NXT live event in Tampa. He was in town after doing commentary on the Cage Fury Fighting Championship (CFFC) show on Friday night and decided to stay in town and check out the NXT show #NXTTampa”

Since making his WWE comeback in November 2023, CM Punk has shown a clear interest in the NXT brand. He has made several unannounced appearances on NXT programming and has been seen around the WWE Performance Center on more than one occasion.

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