What If... CM Punk NEVER Returned To Wrestling

It had all been quite brilliantly leading up to this moment.

Rumours had swirled of the unthinkable arrival of a bloke who'd once turned his back on the wrestling business for good. Tony Khan's company had leaned into those rumblings with a number of superb teases, the booking of the United Center for the second-ever edition of AEW Rampage, and wonderfully naming it 'The First Dance' - a nod to The Last Dance Netflix documentary, one that focused on Michael Jordan and his eventual return to the Chicago Bulls.

Could it really be? There was just enough doubt left hanging in the air that night to suggest the biggest wrestling return of all time may have been little more than a way to sell out an arena.

But the second that familiar guitar riff burst through the speakers and subsequently ignited a Chicago crowd that blasted a hole through the roof with a superhuman pop, this long-time fantasy became a surreal reality.

CM Punk had returned to wrestling. And that moving visual of a healthy Phil Brooks letting the roars wash over him alone was enough to leave many an adult wiping back a tear or two.

In a world where Moments tend to live longer in the memory than just about anything else, they simply did not get any bigger.

'The Best in the World's arrival in the All Elite universe would transform an already strong and consistently hot product into a force to be reckoned with. Ratings were strong, AEW PPV records were broken, a hell of a lot of merch was moved, all-timer feuds were had, and he featured in the main event of two shows which drew a $1 million gate.

Whatever way you slice it, CM Punk signing an AEW contract was a smart business decision from Tony Khan.

But that often unbelievable time to be alive eventually gave away to one of the most turbulent periods the fledgling company has ever experienced, too. And it's a spell you could argue AEW have still yet to fully recover from even now.

The rather fascinating question is then, how exactly would the wrestling business look in 2024 had 'One Bill Phil' decided not to come back to a world that had chewed him up and ultimately spat him back out all those years ago?

The Punker himself was recently asked during his instantly viral near-two-hour pipe bomb on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani whether he regretted agreeing to pop back up in this business.

His answer? The fact he got to meet and become friends with a ton of folks in AEW, help a few people, and achieve so many incredible things after that return has left him with zero regrets.

But there's no denying that his own and many other people's lives would have been a whole lot less stressful had this 'Chick Magnet' opted to remain the one person fans were convinced would never walk back down a wrestling ramp...