WWE in Winter 2023-24: CM Punk is All Entertainment.

[Hawk 34]

I like people are taking two separate moments and making it one.

Punk and Orton were exchanging friendly gestures to each other but immediately the internet co-opted two separate incidents and making it one to fit the angle now. It’s good shit.

The best reactions have been Rhea Ripley mocking Punk while Dom sees money in his eyes.

 

[Valeyard]

Seth is a great worker. He knows how to make the crowd get involved and always tries hard. When he wants he can have great matches too. He's exactly what a good pro wrestler is supposed to be. I just don't care anymore about Seth. But I want Tyler Black vs Jon Moxley.

 

[Sex Machine Gun]

So really, when was the last time any wrestling thread blew up like this? Maybe, ironically, the Raw thread that would have had the Pipe Bomb? Did we even still have regular Raw threads by 2011?

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

So really, when was the last time any wrestling thread blew up?

When Punk had his last meltdown in September!

Edit- Maybe I was thinking of Brawl Out cause the AEW September threads are all under 200.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Yeah. The AEW thread after Brawl Out has 1k replies.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

My two cents: I think some people are severely downplaying the benefit of Punk returning to WWE. Despite that, I think it proves that he's a giant hypocrite which will be further accentuated if he works the Saudi shows. I know it's wrestling and bridges are never burned but I really thought he was the one who got away and truly stayed away. I re-listened to that Cabana podcast where he detailed why he left and it's hilarious that he came crawling back. I guess he realizes he's in his mid-40s, isn't the Wrestler he once was and wanted to secure the bag and get a decent send-off.

Feel free to quote me in a few months when his flame fizzles and he's causing trouble backstage.

Also LOL at the AEW hardcores who are all like "whatever, I never liked him anyway, he didn't do shit for Tony!". Look, I love AEW and want it to succeed but some of the blinders on their fans make it so hard sometimes.

Punk clearly helped aew but he also damaged them with brawl out and the collision brand separation etc. Whether he did more good or not is going to be up to history.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Will CM Punk finally have his great WrestleMania moment? I will take a sip of iced cold Pepsi and wonder.

 

[Hawk 34]

Will CM Punk finally have his great WrestleMania moment? I will take a sip of iced cold Pepsi and wonder.

Winning MITB under the amused gaze of Mickey Rourke isn’t enough?

 

[909]

On the 'why do you think WWE is stale' front I would say also that when they added a new belt to counter how stale the top reign was becoming, they gave it to someone who has been on top for nine years. So if you're saying 'how could this thing with Punk go badly' I would say even before you get into his personal problems that the merit of providing this new title was that it was going to be a title for wrestlers who weren't already on top before. And then it turned into not being that. The opportunity cost of bringing Punk in could potentially be pretty bad.

 

[Brocklock]

Winning MITB under the amused gaze of Mickey Rourke isn’t enough?

It's a shame The Wrestler didn't come out a year later. Then you could have Straight Edge Society Punk cutting promos on Rourke about how he lost it all due to his addictions. Sucks that the Punk/Mysterio match from that show went like 5 minutes. The entirety of Bret vs Vince from entrances to finish went like a half hour.

Also, that Punk/Jericho WM match rocked and so did Punk/Taker. Not the biggest moments, but still really good to great matches. What Vale said about Seth being "exactly what a good pro wrestler should be" is how I feel about Punk. His psychology is still second to none and he's one of the best storytellers around. I care more about that stuff than spots and moves, so of course he's going to appeal to me. People knock his execution of moves, but that doesn't matter that much to me. Cena had wonky execution throughout his career. So did Flair at times whenever he did his terrible looking piledriver. Funk was awkward as he got older. And Tenryu's powerbomb always looked weak yet he's still one of my favorites ever.

 

[geniusMoment]

The Punk return is the #1 trending video on youtube. It's gonna interesting to see how Raw does against MNF this week.

 

[strummer]

I think Punk/Taker is hurt by the awful build it had. Plus Punk was pretty directionless post Mania until the .Heyman turn

 

[Brocklock]

Oh yeah, the build was weak and mean spirited. But, the match itself was great. I remember everyone being nonplussed before it started, but were biting on the nearfalls by the end. Even though, it was obvious Punk wasn't winning.

Yeah, tbf to Punk they had him feuding with Curtis Axel and Ryback for a lot of his post WM run. The Brock match at Summerslam is still a classic though.

 

[geniusMoment]

So, does Punk mention AEW on Monday? Who does he allude to? Tony? Bucks? Page?

I'm curious about what he can legally say. I know when he returned to AEW he signed legal documents saying he couldn't disparage the company, Tony or The Bucks. Even though he isn't with AEW any longer I'm curious if he would open himself up to a lawsuit if he now does.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

The Brock match at Summerslam is still a classic though.

Love that match and I don’t think it’s brought up enough. Brock Vs Punk is the IRL version of a Hulk Vs Wolverine comic.

 

[Fall of Epic]

I definatley expect a thinly veiled promo trashing AEW tomorrow night. AEW will respond as well. I didn't notice this at the time but the Elite were mocking Punk on TV after Brawl Out. I saw a video on Twitter where one of the Bucks pretended to botch a Buckshot Lariat similar to how Punk did when he wrestled Page.

 

[Hawk 34]

It’s just as likely Punk tongue in cheek pretends he hasn’t been in a ring since 2014.

 

[Fall of Epic]

Also, if Punk does indeed start to cause trouble backstage then who will it be that puts him in his place? The Bucks, Omega and Perry where considerably smaller than him (maybe same size as Omega?) But someone like Rollins or Reigns isn't going to take his shit (100% in Rollins' case).

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

If I’m Triple H, I really want CM Punk to try and avoid focusing too much of his energy on ragging on his previous employer.

 

[Hawk 34]

Also, if Punk does indeed start to cause trouble backstage then who will it be that puts him in his place? The Bucks, Omega and Perry where considerably smaller than him (maybe same size as Omega?) But someone like Rollins or Reigns isn't going to take his shit (100% in Rollins' case).

Hunter.

Punks final masterstroke is to induce Hunter to have another heart attack and leave the company in the hands of his old Chicago pal, Scrap Daddy.

 

[909]

Also, if Punk does indeed start to cause trouble backstage then who will it be that puts him in his place? The Bucks, Omega and Perry where considerably smaller than him (maybe same size as Omega?) But someone like Rollins or Reigns isn't going to take his shit (100% in Rollins' case).

Everyone will beat his ass at the same time

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

See that’s partly why I want a Logan Paul feud. If someone flips out and beats up the other IRL, I’ll be happy either way.

 

[Sex Machine Gun]

I expect it to be like when he came back in 2021, he'll say "and yeah, I went somewhere else for a while, some stuff went down, but I'm here now and I want a piece of SETH ROLLINS." No actual name checks or direct references.

 

[Fall of Epic]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1728627016747151690

Hilarious in hindsight.

 

[Valeyard]

Punk is gonna start shit with Dom. He's a perfect target. Then Judgment Day push his shit in and they don't get punished.

I hope they implied or outright promised a Wrestlemania main event that they decide in January to bail on.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1728869970753548648

I am curious to see what number RAW does against a crappy Monday Night Football game. At least the Chicagoland CXFers won’t have to watch the Bears.

 

[Valeyard]

What's funny about this is how no matter what one segment of fans is going to blame Punk or Orton for the number not being higher.

 

[BUTT]

The more I think about it, I'm thinking this isn't a terrible idea. Punk is a total wild card as far as his own behavior but with regards to the other talent, I said a while back that they wouldn't want him to disrupt their docile and cucked locker room. But that's the thing: they're docile and cucked. No one is going to revolt over them signing Punk; no one revolts over anything. They stranded half their roster in Saudi Arabia and almost everyone shut up and took it. I also expect him to have frequent absences from television, both so he can rest his failing body and also so everyone backstage doesn't get too sick of him. And I'm sure Heyman will be involved in his creative, not as much as he is with Brock and Roman (unless he works with them) but he’ll be able to come up with ideas that won’t piss Punk off.

Also business is great but ticket sales are starting to soften for return visits to markets. The whole Bloodline thing is played. And they still have to make a deal for Raw so it’s good to pump up the ratings now.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I didn't give a shit about AEW during their first two years, but once he showed up, I followed on a weekly basis. I do understand why the fans that followed AEW from the beginning hated him, and while he had a lot of good matches, he clashed with the good vibes and creative direction of the company. The last year and a half of his AEW run has been brutal as a Punk fan, and he deserves all the disdain and hatred he gets. But, I just want the guy to succeed. It's similar to Bret, except Bret wasn't a bully and a sociopath, and was mostly right in his complaints. But, Punk is just my guy just like Bret was. I can't explain it. I hate Triple H, Vince, Flair, Lawler, Hogan and the other sociopaths, but Punk I like.

FWIW, this approximates how I feel about Liz Cambage. So, I sort of get it.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

To this point it astounds me that lapsed fans and casuals actually think this is what wrestling fans who watch every week care about. If that was what people wanted you don’t even need to watch the shows and should just look the show up afterward and skip everything but the matches.

So. basically, the way I watch wrestling?