CM Punk was a symbol of protest, now he’s a corporate pawn.
CM Punk is back in professional wrestling! CM Punk is back in the WWE! After making his return at Survivor Series over the weekend, Punk stepped foot in a WWE ring for the first time in a decade on Monday Night Raw to address the crowd and usher in his surprise return to the company he spend 10 years slamming on social media, in interviews, and to whoever would listen to him.
Getting Punk back is a feather in WWE’s cap, both in currying favor with fans — and also flexing on their lead over AEW. Is this an exciting move? Is it the right one? Today a young wrestling fan and an old one give their thoughts on what CM Punk’s return to WWE actually means.
A young’s take on CM Punk in WWE, but JP Acosta (23)
So, my first memory of CM Punk in WWE was in 2011. I was only allowed to watch wrestling for 30 minutes a day. CM Punk was captivating my screen, and just seemed like the coolest guy ever.
Now, over a decade later, Punk is back in the WWE, but just like me, things have changed in a decade. I don’t want to say whether Punk made the right or wrong decision in coming back to the WWE, because it’s far too early for that. Given the way things ended in AEW if he wanted to wrestle in front of major audiences on free television weekly then this was his only way back. I’m also not sure whether to call it growth, given… how things ended in AEW.
I guess where I land on this is coming back to one word: Aged. As people grow older, their motivations and ideals change, and nobody is going to be the exact same as they were a decade before. Whether it be for the better is left up to interpretation, but it feels like this version of CM Punk in the WWE feels aged. The anti-establishment, anti-WWE Punk that was on display isn’t here anymore, but this CM Punk feels like his motivations have changed.
And what did we get?
“I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to make money.”
Punk could’ve been lying about pretty much everything before that line, but with that line he told us what his motivations are. CM Punk might be in the WWE again, but with money as the backdrop for his reasoning behind why he’s back, the entire Punk aura feels… off. It feels different than the Punk we got before, even the Punk we got in AEW. Of course, a lot happened in AEW that could’ve shaped his motivations to this point, but now Punk is 45 years old. I’m not saying he’s completely changed, and whether that be for the better or worse, but what I’m saying is that this version of Punk might be a lot different than the one we got before.
Honestly, I kinda get it. Like I said, Punk is 45. He can’t wrestle the same kinds of matches that he did before, but what he can do is sell a crowd and work a microphone. People will still flock to Punk, but I just wonder if this version, this older version, will have the same magnetism as the Punk we saw earlier. It might not matter, as long as the money is rolling in. Based on the overall reactions and views from Survivor Series and the final segment of RAW, it just might.
An old’s take on CM Punk in WWE, but James Dator (38)
I waited three hours to see CM Punk’s return to WWE on Monday Night RAW. I didn’t necessarily want a pipe bomb, or a grand statement. I didn’t need Punk to take shots at AEW or start a new feud in WWE. What I wanted as a wrestling fan was to understand why this return was happening at all.
“I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to make money.”
At least I got my answer.
It’s never been about Punk the wrestler. It was Punk the symbol. Fans chanted his name for 10 years not because they were desperate to see him back in the ring, but because he became synonymous with raging against the corporate machine, being dissatisfied with the product, and wanting a change in how business was done under Vince McMahon. Chanting his name was a wrestling fan’s protest song.
Now his name is being chanted as part of a corporate talent acquisition to build hype for WrestleMania, urging more people to subscribe to Peacock, the official streaming partner of WWE. If Stone Cold Steve Austin’s feud with Mr. McMahon was the foundation of the Attitude Era, then Punk’s similar friction with the company was the only heartfelt element of the PG Era.
Stone Cold’s mystique died when he joined Vince in story, becoming part of everything he “hated” for years before. So too Punk is now a gleeful part of what he railed against for so long — and as an old wrestling fan it’s sad, because I hate to see history repeated in the worst ways.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s a ton of money to be made. If Punk can call his own shots on promos while toeing the line of his corporate overlords then he’s still the best promo man in WWE without question. If the tea leaves settle how it’s looking then he’ll get into a feud with Seth Rollins, and it will probably be a banger.
The issue is what the long term play is here. Punk debuted with white-hot fire in AEW as well, garnering a much bigger reaction than he got on Monday night. A few months later people realized more or less what he’d become: A middling in-ring performer who didn’t have much left in the tank, and promos that felt a little stale because an entire generation of young performers grew up watching CM Punk’s promo work.
This is poised to play much better in WWE than it did in AEW, however. The nature of WWE’s scripted promo work means that any improvisation feels unique and fresh, whereas the AEW audience had been conditioned to line-blurring promo work with MJF and Eddie Kingston prior to Punk’s arrival.
What makes this era of wrestling pretty sad as a fan of both companies is that none of this is really about being excited about the performer. When WCW was sinking the majority of the excitement from talent jumping ship was imagining how Chris Jericho would look working against top WWE talent. How Booker T would be presented outside of WCW’s sinking ship. It was about the wrestling.
Now with Cody, with Punk, with Jade Cargill, and the countless talent that has jumped from WWE to AEW — it’s not about being excited for the performers, but gleeful gnashing of teeth over poker chips between two tribalistic fanbases who love to bicker online about WWE vs. AEW like PlayStation vs. Xbox.
In the end everyone is just rooting for billionaires to make more money and that their investment in a corporation pays off. It’s sad, it’s pathetic — and it’s exactly what CM Punk fought against for years. Now he’s a smiling part of it all.
It’s just sad.
