Now We Know: CM Punk Can Talk About Anything He Wants On WWE Backstage ... Except Saudi Arabia
Two months after his return, a moment on WWE Backstage exposes how restricted CM Punk's analysis is.
When CM Punk appeared on WWE Backstage for his full debut, he effectively made a statement of intent:
“Here I am, somebody who is not employed by WWE, and I get to criticize the product. There’s a lot of stuff that’s broken, and I think what the fans need is somebody to tell it like it is. Voice of the Voiceless, right?”
Since then, it has become blatantly obvious that Punk was telling the truth when it came to who his contract was with – but not about what it allows him to do. He immediately returned to the CM Punk brand, touting his nickname and venerating about his contributions to wrestling. This was a man looking to reframe the public view about himself, possibly as a way to return to the industry that he so clearly yearns for. This wasn’t CM Punk the wrestler, it was CM Punk the independent journalist. Not only that, but it was a journalist that would be the champion of the people, not tied to the same contracts as Booker T and Renee Young, able to deliver hard-hitting analysis and scathing criticism.
He did, for a bit. There was the thing he said about Seth Rollins’ Twitter, and the time that he called WWE’s creative team garbage for their work on the infamous Corbin-Reigns dog mascot angle. Beyond that, though, and the fabric starts to thin. If you pay attention during his infrequent appearances on Backstage, he rarely criticizes anything truly controversial. It’s as though he’s existing in the same space as Corey Graves on his After The Bell podcast, or his co-analysts on Backstage, Paige and Ember Moon.
[Con't.]