CM Punk: AEW Makes Me Better Than Ever, I Can Reach My Full Potential

CM Punk is the best version of himself.

During his post-show media scrum at AEW Double Or Nothing, CM Punk was asked about being at the top of his game and how things have changed since his last title win nine years ago. Punk said he’s having a lot of fun and changed his way of thinking about the business, and it’s making him a better overall performer.

“I think it’s really crazy. I don’t know if I’m just older and I’m wiser. I feel like there’s more of a special connection with the crowd and me. I don’t know, man. I’m having so much fun. I approach things logically all the time whereas before, somewhere else, I think there was just all this external bullsh-t that at the end of the day, doesn’t really matter. And I don’t have that here. There’s not all that weird pressure. And I can just kinda go out there and for lack of a better description, just be an artist, I’d that makes sense. It sounds super f-cking pretentious. It’s pro wrestling, right. But I think some of the guys that ever laced up a pair of boots looked at it that way. I used to think, man, 43 was old as sh-t. Like these guys shouldn’t be in the ring, what the f-ck? And now I look at it look just like I’m in my prime and I don’t want to just use that prime for me. And that’s hard to say because here I am and I have the title.

“But I wanna use the time I have now to tell those best stories in hopes that the people I’m working with and the people that are in the locker room watching are like oh, I get it. Like a lot of it comes with experience and putting time in. So I’ve developed the relationship with the crowd. I just think it’s this place. This place makes me better than I’ve ever been because I’m able to reach my full potential. Everything about it. This place and the mix of this talent and for all it’s worth, I love AEW. This is what I dreamed pro wrestling could and should be in America since I was like 15 years old. And it took this long to get here and I think that’s what helps make me be the best version of myself that I’ve ever been. And on top of that, I got tremendous talent that carries me through and makes me probably look better than I really am. And that’s part of it too.”

Punk also spoke about AEW making its Los Angeles debut on Wednesday, as Dynamite will be at the KIA Forum. Punk said it’s exciting to know that they’ll be at a famed building they sold out, noting that he recently had an “a-ha” moment over it.

“The Forum. It’s so weird. A couple weeks ago, I went to The Forum to see Bill Burr, and I was like sitting there and I was watching Bill Burr, and I was just looking around thinking man, this is so crazy, all these people came to see this guy. Hey wait a second, we sold this place out too. It was like a a-ha moment. I was like that’s pretty f—- cool, it’s a famous building. And again, fortunate and grateful every day. I can say I sold out the Staples Center and now I can say I’m part of selling out The Forum. And it’s neat. It’s exciting to me.”