Nearly six years after he left the WWE, CM Punk returned to the wrestling industry by taking up an analyst job with WWE Backstage on Fox Sports 1.

CM Punk first joined WWE in 2005, where he worked in the Ohio Valley Wrestling territory. He slowly began to rise to main event status in 2008, eventually entering feuds with top superstars like Jeff Hardy, John Cena and even The Rock.

Due to health reasons and frustrations with the company, CM Punk left WWE in Jan. 2014, but his new job with Fox has folks hoping that he could return to the ring down the road.

That remains to be seen, but in the meantime, fans can at least be entertained by CM Punk's take on the current wrestling product. His work up to this point has impressed another former World Champion and WWE Hall of Famer, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin.

Speaking with State of Combat (h/t WrestlingInc.com) the Texas Rattlesnake detailed why he's intrigued by CM Punk's return, and what he likes about the latter's performance on WWE Backstage:

"Just the fact that he returned to be doing business with WWE I love because I know they split up on bad terms and now they are back in business together, CM Punk was a lights-out pro wrestler; great promos, great work, great talent, so to have him back into the fold obviously they ironed whatever they needed to iron out and both sides are happy.

"It's great to have CM Punk back in the pro wrestling/sports entertainment business. I think it's a breath of fresh air because the guy brings in a great perspective, great insights, great opinion on all things sports entertainment."

Related: Seth Rollins Explains Why He Keeps Calling Out CM Punk

While Punk continues to succeed in his new role, fans will continue to hold out hope that he will make amends with Vince McMahon and Triple H to hopefully set up a return to the ring.

In a recent Reddit AMA, CM Punk was asked about a possible return to wrestling, to which he responded it would"have to be a very big bag." For what it's worth, Triple H said on a recent conference call that there haven't been discussions with CM Punk.

Will We See CM Punk Back In The Ring?

CM Punk and Seth Rollins have traded verbal jabs at one another, and Vince was apparently furious at The Architect for mentioning him on this week's episode of Raw. But will we actually see a CM Punk return to wrestler? Joining WWE Backstage was a nice starting point, but it's still impossible to know for sure. If WWE can make amends with Punk while offering him a nice payday (always hard for wrestlers to turn down) then it should only be a matter of time until he wrestles again.

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