CM Punk could leave Saturday Night’s Main Event tonight as World Heavyweight Champion. But a certain WWE Hall of Famer claims he doesn’t need it.
On the latest episode of 83 Weeks, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff spoke about tonight’s World Heavyweight Championship match between CM Punk and Jey Uso at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Bischoff believes the match is Uso’s to win and that Punk is so “freaking over” right now that he doesn’t need the title.
“I’m going to take the long shot here and the odds and I’m going to go Jey Uso,” Eric Bischoff said. “I say that because, again, what I’m seeing on social media… Jey Uso is inspired in a whole different way… it felt inspired, is my point.
“And I think the move putting it on Jey Uso right now, from a long-term perspective, makes more sense than Punk. Punk is so freaking over. It’s ridiculous. He doesn’t need it. Jey could use it. So from a purely practical point of view, I’d put my money on Jey.” [H/T: WrestlingNews.co]
Eric Bischoff has changed his tune on CM Punk since returning to WWE
It’s funny to hear Bischoff sing CM Punk’s praises now. As he spent several years trashing him when he was in AEW. Even after being fired by the company, Bischoff made it clear on The Ten Count in no uncertain terms that WWE shouldn’t bring Punk back to the company.
“I don’t think it would be, I think CM Punk shit the bed,” Eric Bischoff said. “I think everybody sees — when Tony Khan brought CM Punk into AEW, he still had that mystique, a pipe bomb mystique. He was this character that stood up to the man and walked away, and there’s a rebel or rebellious quality in that character that I think the average American admires. So Punk had this mystique and still had his fan base.
“And Tony Khan was able to take advantage of that. And over a very short period of time, that mystique began to just dissipate. It was like letting the air out of the balloon a little bit more each and every week. And CM Punk came in with great ratings. Then literally the next week started in a freefall back down to pre-Punk levels. You look at where AEW is in terms of week-to-week ratings. This is the only thing we can have to measure that’s public because the financial information is all private.
“We don’t really hear anything about the real financial information. We just get the top-line stuff. But ratings is the data that we have that we can go oh, okay, this is where this product is going…flatline. Shortly after CM Punk got there, it flatlined to pre-Punk levels. And I think that a lot of that has to do with people came. They were excited because of the aura and the mystique. They saw, and they went ehh.
“Not so much, a little bit but nothing special. And then for Punk to conduct himself in the manner in which he did, I think, left a bad taste in not only the fans mouths. Why would anybody want to hire a guy that’s willing to live publicly disparage the guy that’s writing him a check every week when he’s right next to you? Why would anybody want to be in business with that guy?”
READ MORE: CM Punk Believes He’s Doing The Best Work Of His Career
What do you make of Eric Bischoff’s comments? Do you believe CM Punk is so over he doesn’t need a World Title right now? Let us know your overall thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
