Is CM Punk returning to pro wrestling and specifically All Elite Wrestling?
(Shakes the magic eight ball)
All signs point to yes.
So that’s the lead story in the wrestling world right now. The potential return of CM Punk to AEW.
I’m here for it. And you should be too.
FULL PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:
CM Punk is / was an outstanding promo and wrestler in his prime years. The facts are in 2010 / 2011 he brought people back to wrestling with his pipe bomb promo and his Money in the Bank PPV win in Chicago over John Cena. He caused a lot of positive change in pro wrestling and yes, I know that change helped CM Punk a lot. Is that / was that selfish of him, yup, 100%. CM Punk’s departure from WWE also was a changing of direction point for Bryan Danielson to beat Triple H, Randy Orton and Dave Batisita over the course of 2 matches at WM 30 and win the World Title in the main event. Then CM Punk, who was on suspension from WWE, was fired on his wedding day, sued WWE and won, did a podcast with his best friend Colt Cabana at the time, which broke the internet, tried and failed at UFC, returned to the wrestling spotlight the same weekend in Chicago that AEW was crowning its first World Champion in September of 2019 then 2 years later, Aug 20th, 2021, he returns as a rumor, for a TV show on a Friday night at 10pm, sells out the United Center in Chicago, his first words are about a Britt Baker pop in Pittsburgh. And AEW has this injection of stars come in, Punk, Adam Cole, Bryan Danielson. And AEW is now on this path, behind CM Punk, to get in the conversation of domestically ratings wise competing with WWE. And this is after not even 3 years. And CM Punk comes on to the AEW scene and he immediately makes you, me, the audience, and the locker room FEEL.
Love him, hate him, you’re emotionally invested in CM Punk. I loved CM Punk in ROH, WWE, AEW and then, and I’m skipping a lot here, a year after his return match back, he wins the AEW title, for the second time, and he’s in a press conference, dumping on his co workers and bosses, with the owner of the company next to him and then he gets into a fight with them after the press conference. So Punk’s legacy goes from, game changer, positive disrupter, money making wrestler when walking into AEW to negative disrupter, shit stirrer all over the course of a year. CM Punk shouldn’t want that as his lasting memory in pro wrestling, AEW, which is still paying him, shouldn’t want that and you and me as fans shouldn’t want that. When you think and are vocal about your thoughts, there is and will be push back in many cases. So CM Punk, has an opinion on everything and the biggest problem is not everyone agrees with his opinions, which can be good but in this case it was bad. CM Punk in his year with AEW made more money for Tony Kahn then Cody, Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, Moxley, Jericho etc so there’s going to be ego and conflict there. Now, I fully understand it’s a team effort but AEW doesn’t sell out 20,000 at the Untied Center on a random Friday night in august without the rumor of CM Punk being there.
So from a purely finical point of view, CM Punk’s year in AEW was a massive positive. But then the locker room stuff happens and look, not every co worker is going to get along with every co worker, certainly in my career in radio I haven’t liked everyone that I’ve worked with but the goal has to be the same, how does was we do benefit the viewer or the listener. That HAS to apply here with CM Punk, Adam Page, Omega, FTR, Young Bucks, Chris Jericho, MJF and Tony Khan… what’s the best creative that we can put together to get 80,000 people to fill a football stadium in London. The Eddie Kingston vs CM Punk story in the fall of 2021 could have had more depth to it but Tony, Punk, Eddie, could only do so much business together BUT they did do business. Punk and MJF, told a hell of a story over the course of their winter of 2022 story and there was a hole left for more business together. Then CM Punk is now challenging for the AEW World Championship, held by Adam Page. And the issue behind the scenes became an issue on camera because Adam Page had to make a comment about protecting the locker room from CM Punk. In real time, I didn’t understand it and I think such a small percentage of the audience understood it. And now, almost a year later, here’s how I translate it. Page, Omega, The Bucks and I’m sure others, were pissed and or jealous that CM Punk walked into their company and out drew them money wise. CM Punk, out drew everyone in ratings. CM Punk walked in and took their top spot. Everyone needs to get over it. CM Punk walked in, hit all these successful business metrics and the decision was made to make CM Punk the AEW Champion.
With respect to Adam Page, he wasn’t a good World Champion. He had a series of good matches but he wasn’t growing All Elite Wrestling, CM Punk was. CM Punk was the wrestler putting more eyes on the product and because the Elite have such good relationships with the wrestling media, they made sure to leak out their message. The Elite couldn’t beat Punk in the metrics that really matter so they tried to undercut him to their niche audience. CM Punk generally doesn’t leak out information directly to the wrestling media which is why he spoke so angry at that All Out Press conference after he beat Jon Moxley for the World Title. Now, do I believe everything that CM Punk says to be true, I don’t. Do I believe everything that Jericho or the Elite say to be true, I don’t. Here’s what I do believe, a six man match with Punk and FTR against Jericho, Garcia and Sammy Guevara , is an outstanding way for Punk to return to AEW and show he can do business, which should lead to Page and the Bucks and Kenny Omega being willing to work with Punk and FTR in the future and specifically at All In in London. And that match, should be Page and the Bucks against Punk and FTR. Kenny Omega should be in a singles match against Okada that night. It’s a massive money draw. So just do it.
The reporting is that CM Punk is coming back and he’s going to be part of this Saturday night 8-10pm show. The Elite doesn’t want to work with CM Punk. There’s a meeting scheduled with Punk, Jericho, Tony Khan, FTR and others. AEW is paying Punk, Jericho, Moxley, the Bucks, Omega and others more than a million per year. Punk was hurt and was suspended but he’s been collecting a million dollar pay check, AEW and Tony Kahn has to get some return on that. And if it’s being put out there that Punk wants to come back and do business, let’s do business. The fans benefit from a CM Punk come back and CM Punk benefits from a come back. CM Punk gets to right a wrong. A wrong he created but Punk should have the platform to come back and apologize if he feels like he was wrong. His return promo, will be another hit. And maybe he gets boo’ed and fans don’t accept his apology. But at least give Punk the platform for it. Other wise, Punk goes down as a major part of the rise and fall documentary of AEW. Cody leaving AEW for WWE, Owens and Sami staying in WWE when their contracts were up, are still the lead issues in that A and E special. But Punk’s in the conversation. Punk doesn’t want to leave wrestling like this, Punk didn’t want to leave the WWE the way he left.
We as humans, we want to see the comeback story, we’re generally forgiving people as long as we feel like we’re being told the truth.
I’m rooting for a CM Punk come back story. I’m rooting for a Jericho match with CM Punk. I’m rooting for a CM Punk / FTR vs Elite story. I’m rooting for an MJF vs CM Punk match. I’m rooting for CM Punk to not get hurt. I’m rooting for CM Punk to be physically and mentally healthy. I’m rooting for the happy ending that we should have with the CM Punk story.
That’s my podcast this week.
James Stewart is the executive producer of the Felger & Mazz program on 98.5 The Sports Hub. Send any issues you have with his takes to Felger@985TheSportsHub.com. Follow him on Twitter @IAmJamesStewart.
