10 Fascinating Facts About Famous Wrestling Promos

8. Eddie Kingston & CM Punk Take The Work Out Of The Worked Shoot

CM Punk Eddie Kingston
AEW

CM Punk and Eddie Kingston worked an absolutely phenomenal short programme in late 2021.

The very best use of an interrupted promo ever - it wasn't remotely contrived, Eddie had a reason to be there without just conveniently lurking, and the immersion of the broadcast was treated seriously when they "ran out of time" to hear from Punk - it led to a white-hot promo duel and brawl on the following AEW Rampage. Both men ended up in a state of incandescent, money-drawing fury.

F*ck phenomenal; this was perfect. Punk is known in wrestling circles for taking himself quite seriously. Some wrestlers have even openly mocked his self-designated locker room leader bit. His being denied even a short amount of TV time and crying a lack of professionalism was so, so CM Punk in the best of ways ahead of the tweener role he shortly played.

In the subsequent, incredible segment, Punk moaned that this behaviour was typical selfish Eddie Kingston behaviour. Kingston in retaliation called Punk a two-faced narcissist. Kingston said Punk wrote him off for being fat and lazy. Punk agreed, calling him a "bum" who never lived up to his potential. This story of a pissy beef from years ago - who can't relate to that? - was a total shoot. Former indie wrestler and insightful Twitter follow Gran Akuma revealed that it was "completey rooted in reality", and an anonymous source wrote into the Observer to confirm.

Punk and Kingston obviously cooperated with one another then, and continue to have fun with the "beef" on social media to this day - but the source material was as real as this work gets.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!