INSANE Wrestling Fan Backlashes You Didn't See Coming

6. CM Punk Gets BOOED In Chicago

MJF goofy
AEW

Fans gravitate towards stars more than they do heroes.

Also, because wrestling never ends, and it is frighteningly easy to stop caring about the talents who bump every week for your entertainment, the easiest shortcut with which to get over is to disappear outright. Every heel becomes a babyface when they return from injury.

This phenomenon intensifies when the fans aren't certain that a wrestler is going to return at all. This blend of anticipation and relief undid CM Punk at AEW All Out 2022, and while his press conference promo was clearly to some extent rehearsed, the post-main event angle would not have helped his mood.

MJF was revealed to be the "devil" who had won a (frankly illogical) Casino Ladder match in the opener. He revealed himself to Punk in a cliffhanger, and when he wandered out on the stage, the fans cheered him for threatening to humiliate the top babyface. Again, MJF had left, so this wasn't entirely surprising - but it was shocking, since All Out emanated from Chicago.

There was a certain irony to this, one that Punk probably should have forecast himself. His aura as an iconoclast was cemented when he left wrestling for seven years. MJF wasn't away for nearly as long, but he in effect used one of Punk's tricks against him - in fiction and reality.

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!