18 Ups & 15 Downs For WWE In 2023

5. Hell Freezes Over

WWE Survivor Series 2023 CM Punk
WWE.com

The full impact of CM Punk’s improbable return to WWE nearly a decade after walking out of the company won’t be fully known until it’s proven that he plays ball and is a true asset to the promotion rather than just the splashiest of signings.

But for now, it can’t be understated how seismic Punk’s return at Survivor Series was across the wrestling landscape. He quite literally broke the internet and has sparked countless conversations about future matchups, how long he’ll last with WWE, whether other AEW wrestlers will view this as a beacon to jump ship when their contracts expire, and so on.

Punk has the potential to be a true game-changer for WWE, provided he’s willing to be that guy and work within the system. It’s a different system than when he left in January 2014, but it still is sports entertainment, so time will truly tell.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.