CM Punk explains just how much his return to wrestling on Friday night truly meant to him personally.
CM Punk was a guest on Monday’s episode of the Kap & J. Hood show on ESPN 1000 Chicago, and he was asked what the night meant to him personally. Punk said making his return to professional wrestling with AEW wasn’t only the biggest night in the past seven years for him, but he called it the greatest night of his entire career.
“Over the last seven years? I’ll take it back further, honestly. I was discussing this with a couple of my friends,” Punk stated, “and that might have been the greatest moment, the greatest night of my career.”
Punk then explained why it was so personally gratifying for him and said he knows metrics and statistics matter to a lot of people, but he’s glad he just got to make people happy and shared the moment with people that mattered most.
“Just the entire night couldn’t have gone more perfect, you know? The way we set it up as the ‘worst kept secret,’ selling out the United Center on a rumor that I was going to be there, never announced, never advertised, it shows the connection to the fanbase that AEW has. They get it. They want to be involved, they want to be entertained, they want to go to shows and have a good time. We didn’t feel the need to beat them over the head [with it] to get a TV rating. Don’t get me wrong, executives at TNT love their ratings, but to me, pro wrestling has always been about moments and getting people to feel something.
“It was a perfect storm, perfect night. The way I debuted, everybody being super-positive backstage, I met so many new people, having my family with me, I could go on and on. It was the perfect night and the perfect moment for so many reasons, and I’m just talking personally. Publicly, I think it’s a smashing success. A lot of people love YouTube views and likes and clicks, all that stuff, but that doesn’t really matter to me all that much, but it’s a big deal to a lot of people. I know the metrics and the analytics people love that kind of stuff, but to me, it was just about making people happy.
“I gave people ice cream just like [former Red Sox and Cubs pitcher] was giving people beer when he was leaving the city. I’m back and I want to show the fans how thankful I am that they waited for seven years.”
If you use this transcript, credit WrestleZone and link back to this post.
RT if you can hear this GIF pic.twitter.com/RtDANsum6n
— AEW on TV (@AEWonTV) August 22, 2021
During his post-show media call, Punk was also asked to compare his 2011 WWE title win at Money In The Bank to his AEW debut. Punk said a lot of what he did in WWE felt like work, but tonight was organic and very straightforward.
“This felt more organic. Everything I ever did prior to being here felt like a fight, and it kinda squeezed the life out of some stuff. This was a joyful moment that was just—it didn’t need to get overproduced, it didn’t need everybody’s input, it needed a few select people’s input and just an understanding that it’s pro wrestling, you know? You don’t need to slick it up and lacquer it, shine it up too much, it needed to be real. So, to compare the two moments, this one did not feel like a job.”
CM Punk will face Darby Allin at All Out in his first match with the company on September 5. Punk also spoke about how much he’ll be involved with the promotion moving forward and potential dream opponents; you can read his remarks at this link.
