CM Punk In WWE Hurts AEW Says Dave Meltzer
CM Punk shocked the world with his Survivor Series return to WWE, but what does that mean for the company that fired Punk just a few short months ago?
CM Punk stunned Chicago as he returned to WWE after nine years at Survivor Series, making his entrance to a raucous reception after the men’s WarGames match. Seth Rollins was very unhappy to see the star that he has previously referred to as “a cancer” and Drew McIntyre stormed out of the arena in anger, leaving the ringside area before Punk even made his entrance.
CM Punk was fired by AEW following his backstage altercation with Jack Perry at All In. The physical confrontation was not Punk’s first in the company after he was involved in a fight with The Elite at All Out in September 2022.
How Does CM Punk’s WWE Return Affect AEW?
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer gave his thoughts on what CM Punk’s return means for AEW, and said he thinks it’s bad news for Tony Khan’s company:
I think this hurts #AEW considerably. Just from a perception standpoint. The reason I say that is because of what happened with Cody Rhodes.
Punk is not the spiritual beginner of AEW like Cody Rhodes was, but, Punk was the biggest star AEW ever had. That’s just the reality of it, I know a lot of people don’t want to hear that.As far as star power, he did move numbers more than anyone else. Did Max (MJF) surpass him on the last run? Yes, he did.
But it’s still… when Cody left, he was not the number one guy either and he went to WWE and became pretty much the number two guy almost immediately, and probably really is the number two guy there right now behind Roman Reigns.And Punk is gonna be… when you switch sides, you get really, really big.
CM Punk will be on WWE Raw where fans will hope to hear what his plans are in the company and no doubt they will also be listening out for any pipe bombs being dropped on his former place of work.