6 Things AEW Got Right About CM Punk's Debut
4. Veiled WWE Callbacks
Of course, CM Punk’s first in-ring promo in seven-plus years
had to have some pointed jabs, or else it wouldn’t have been a Punk
promo.
Easily his most direct shot at WWE came early on when he apologized to fans for walking out of the company in 2014, saying that he was never going to get healthy physically, mentally, spiritually or emotionally staying in the place that got him sick in the first place.
Afterward, he asked if he could tell everyone a story. Punk then sat down cross-legged in the ring, which was a direct callback to his infamous pipebomb promo. He also talked about how he left “professional wrestling” when he departed Ring of Honor in 2005, and he returned to professional wrestling in 2021. The heavy implication was that WWE – as the company loves to point out – doesn’t do professional wrestling, they do “sports entertainment.”
And then Punk closed out his promo by offering the fans in attendance a free ice cream bar, which was an ongoing gag of his during his 2011 ascent in WWE. If you forgot, Punk regularly bugged Triple H and Vince McMahon about wanting them to bring back WWE ice cream bars, using it as a negotiating ploy a few times.
He never said “WWE,” but the callbacks were unmistakable, yet they didn’t bog down the promo.