WWE Spoilers: CM Punk and Daniel Bryan Payback Updates

WWE will air its Payback pay-per-view on Sunday, and the event will emanate live from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, hometown of CM Punk. The chances of Punk returning are about as close to zero as one could imagine, but the chances of the raucous Chicago crowd chanting his name for three hours are rather high.

WWE has not returned to Chicago since the infamous March 3 edition of Monday Night Raw when Paul Heyman cut his pipe bomb promo for the hostile crowd. The company planned to address Punk's absence with that promo, but the latest rumors hold that WWE plans to completely ignore the CM Punk chants in the crowd and not acknowledge him at all.

However, the possibility exists that Daniel Bryan's segment with Stephanie McMahon and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship could open the show to help defuse the crowd and distract them from the Punk chants. Bryan is likely to garner some raucous cheers, which could placate the crowd from the get go.

The latest rumors also maintain that Bryan will not surrender the title to Stephanie at Payback even with Brie Bella's job on the line. WWE seems to feel that Bryan will be back sooner rather than later, but this is an extremely fluid situation that could change from week to week or even day to day.

Finally, Roman Reigns vs. Triple H appears to still be the plan for SummerSlam, so it's likely the company would indicate that with the Evolution vs. Shield match at Payback. And speaking of the pay-per-view, WWE has reportedly been encouraging its talent to go above and beyond with the show given the success of NXT Takeover on Thursday.

What do you make of these rumors? Let us know in the comments below.