Seth Rollins was apparently furious. Drew McIntyre stormed out. The Alligator Man Skinner apparently wasn’t asked.
There’s nothing wrong with talking about it. Wrestling fans enjoy talking about it. Nothing wrong with that. No, there isn’t, talking about the sports entertainment we love and have to keep defending. This is ours.
And CM Punk is ours.
CM Punk: Pick A Side
Yes, CM Punk is ours. Whatever we think. Whether we revere the work, in both senses of the word, or whether we dislike the furore which seems to follow it. Yes, CM Punk is ours. And that’s what we want and need.
Controversy. Let’s admit it. It feeds the industry. And CM Punk has done so much feeding of it. Let’s get this out in the open. I wasn’t watching WWF/E when the ‘Pipe Bomb’ Promo and associated hullabaloo happened, so I come from a different place with Punk. A place called ROH. And that’s a good memory.
So all this he’s-under-a-mask-at-an-indie-event or when-will-he-return constant chat was a bit of background noise at best and annoyance at worst. And then he was signed by AEW. And we are still talking about it, here’s The Wrestling Observer today;
‘Longtime CM Punk friend and former in-ring adversary Bryan Danielson headed up a small disciplinary committee that made the decision to fire Punk from AEW, according to Fightful.’
The AEW Year(s)
I don’t blame Tony Khan. He has the money to be able to make his fan fantasy booking come true; he’s a real real lover of Wrestling and I have to love that too.
He’s well known for acquiring great wrestlers and the embarrassment of riches argument is not one for this article, so it wasn’t a surprise that he broke the chat by bringing him to AEW.
And I hated it.
I thought he unbalanced the programmes he was on. Was that his fault? I don’t think so, but once he’s had his pop and his chat, the wrestlers who came after on the show were an afterPunk, not an afterthought, an AfterPunk – it was set up for him to be the special.
Perhaps looking back, that fuelled the locker room fights, which we enjoyed the detail of so much, the media scrum muffin-munching moments too.
I didn’t really enjoy that, but lots enjoyed hating it and let me say again, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Oh, He Wrestled Too?
He did. And because of the early chat about him perhaps not being stupendous because he’d been out of the ring for so long, my lip was already curled.
The in-ring work didn’t delight. But that wasn’t what it was for. It was a work. Wasn’t it? Are the best Wrestling angles so close to the truth? What’s the real truth though? Your truth? Oooh, I just got chills…
WWE Enters The Scene
So few of us thought WWE would sign CM Punk. Whatever ‘sign’ means. But after his departure from AEW with yet more controversy, why would WWE want him?
Why indeed. To cause a Survivor Series pop? To be part of the social media culture? To get at AEW? Let’s take that last one. Because that’s how WWE loses.
Why do you want to compete with AEW? Isn’t WWE on an in-ring roll? Isn’t AEW having trouble with ticket sales? Wasn’t the smaller promotion no trouble to them anyway?
Bringing CM Punk back after he’s been with AEW looks like they’re competing with them. Why do that? It’s weak. It’s not needed. It legitimises a competitor you don’t really want to talk about. But now we’re all talking.
CM Punk has done it again.