7 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE Backstage (Nov 19)
5. One On One With The Great One
WWE
'The Great One' not being the most electrifying man in Sports Entertainment, but the most electrifying presenter in pro wrestling - Renee Young.
CM Punk's sitdown with Young was a brief but engaging catch up with one of the industry's most unique, enigmatic and idiosyncratic characters. Just 24 hours removed from a tweet that fittingly exploded like a miniature - ahem - pipe bomb on Wrestling Twitter, Punk spoke with gentle honesty about the state of WWE and how much hadn't really changed since he'd been away.
Teasing out Punk's philosophy as an analyst, "If it's good, great...if it's bad, you're probably gonna be mad at me". This was ideal.
He was as honest as he was tantalising in his "never say never" summary on returning (though anything happening soon felt like a stretch), though noted that building the bridge with the company might "take as long as building the Great Wall Of China".
He'd offer even more to the show as the hour went on, but this was a solid start for the former 'Voice Of The Voiceless'.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
