CM Punk is back in WWE! Former five time champion makes shock return to close Survivor Series after nine years away from the company following controversial AEW release... just moments after Randy Orton's return after 18 months

The headlines after WWE Survivor Series were written all about Randy Orton's return as the credits began to roll - but then CM Punk's music hit.

The Chicago native's music hit at the very last minute during WWE's pay-per-view broadcast to see one of the industry's biggest names of this millennium return to the company he left with so much bad blood back in 2014.

Now 45, Punk ends his nine-year exile from WWE following a couple of years with the second biggest wrestling promotion in the world, AEW. He had spent seven years out of wrestling full stop before turning up in Tony Khan's promotion.

He originally left WWE the night after the Royal Rumble in 2014 citing creative frustrations, but also anger at the lack of medical care taken with him at the time.

The possibilities for Punk's return seem endless. Will he challenge Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal heavyweight title? Will he work with Seth Rollins, a man who has been scathing at the mere mention of him in interviews?

 CM Punk is the major headline, but here's how the rest of the card played out before his triumphant return.

War Games: Damage CTRL (Bayley, Asuka, Kairi Sane and Iyo SKY) vs Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Belair, Shotzi Blackheart

Iyo SKY repeated history as she took out the entire field of women with a dive from the top of the cage with a trash can over her head, just like in her NXT days.

Not to be outdone, Charlotte Flair hit a moonsault from the top of the cage with that took out all her adversaries.

Flair stood alongside Becky Lynch; two women who have important history as rivals in the ring and strained friends outside of it. The two women finally hugged in the middle of the ring to blow the roof off of the Allstate Arena in Chicago and show they are on the same page.

The ladies showed that when they're on the same page, no one can beat them. Lynch would score the win after putting Bayley through a table with a ManHandle slam from the top rope.

Gunther v The Miz - WWE Intercontinental title

Another Intercontinental title defence from Gunther, another win.

Thie clash didn't have the same amount of juice as some of Gunther's other five-star rivalries, but it was still Miz's best match in a while. A low blow and a skull-crushing finale let us believe Miz might win, but ultimately, the former eight-time champion submitted to Boston Crab.

Santos Escobar v Dragon Lee

WWE wanted to acheive two goals here: cement Santos Ecobar's turn to the dark side with a strong performance and highloght Dragon Lee as an emerging susperstar.

Lee took it to Escobar with plenty of enthusiasm, but it should come as no surprise that the former LWO man got the upperhand via nefarious means before grabbing the victory. A date withb the legendary Rey Mysterio lays in wait for Escoabr down the road.

Rhea Ripley v Zoey Stark - WWE RAW Women's title

This was another example of a match where precious few believed the dominant champion would lose, but the challenger had a chance to raise their stock in a highlighted spot.

Stark did just that by emptying some impressive parts of her arsenal in Chicago, including a springboard corkscrew that stunned the champion. Ultimately, Ripley controlled the majoirty of the match and hit her finisher 'Riptide' for the win.

Drew McIntyre and The Judgement Day (Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, Damien Priest and Dominik Mysterio) vs Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn, Jey Uso and Randy Orton

Orton still hadn't arrived when the match was getting underway, so his teammates were locked in a cage without him and Rollins started the match against Balor not just a man down overall, but with his opponents having another advantage in having a man enter the match first.

JD McDonagh was the first to help Balor. Jey Uso arrived to even the odds before Damien Priest - who stopped McIntyre for getting out ahead of him - restored their advantage.

Sami Zayn came next before McIntyre finally got his wish and got his hands on Uso. The match ebbed back and forth between the two teams but really, it seemed like killing time before getting to the real major moment.

With everyone in the match and Orton nowhere to be found, The Judgement Day put Rollins though a table and picked their moment to try and cash in Priest's Money in the Bank breifcase.

Just as Rhea Ripley attempted to cash-in for Priest, Orton made his first WWE appearance in 18 months to a defeatning ovation. The babyfaces all did Orton's patented draping DDT, all hit their finishing moves - including Orton RKOing Mysterio - before JD McDonagh was all that was left.

He sought refuge on top of the cage, but that proved to be a terrible shortsighted decision. Rollins and Zayn followed the Irishman up top and threw him down to take an RKO from the top of the cage.

Rhodes nailed 'CrossRhodes' on Priest to secure the victory and a successful return for The Viper, Randy Orton. And just when you thought that was it... CM Punk made his presence felt.