The Disturbing Truth Behind A CM Punk In-Ring Return

That was his undisputed calling card. Punk was caustic, incendiary, and he sold his matches so well because he made you feel like he legitimately hated everything: the machine, the idea that John Cena was the best, the idea that Jeff Hardy was a hero, the idea that the old main event guard was somehow better than him.

But he didn’t half have a tendency to drone on about how good he was, and MJF is funnier with it. Chris Jericho is funnier with it, too, and he feels like the true World Champion Punk never truly did (the booking absolutely did not help, of course). And what’s more, Becky Lynch has made his schtick her own in the WWE realm.

Punk was the man who honoured himself by leaving because he couldn’t change the system that broke him. CM Punk never did change anything, not directly. He can’t be blamed for that. Nobody but Vince McMahon was ever going to shape WWE in their own image. But the impossible ambition he held—the same impossible ambition that was so irresistible—has since been realised.

In 2019, CM Punk is a false prophet roaming a promised land. Personal preference/accusations of bias aside, All Elite Wrestling is a genuine game-changer for professional wrestling. WWE loyalists might hate that, but the performers they love do not. They are getting paid. Everything Punk couldn’t do, Cody did. He was the catalyst for change.

That’s part of why he is so palpably, deafeningly over.

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