CM Punk made his grand return to professional wrestling last August and has gone on a dominant run in AEW that will see the Chicago Savior challenge Hangman Page for the AEW World Championship at the May 29th Double or Nothing pay-per-view event.
Speaking with Comicbook.com, Punk gives his honest thoughts on his AEW run thus far, stating that he had high expectations and they’ve all been shattered in the best way possible.
“This run has been more than what I expected. I had expectations. They were pretty high. So far, they’ve pretty much shattered all that, and that’s just based on analytics and numbers of how well we’re doing.”
Punk recently got into a back-and-forth with WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW President Eric Bischoff on Twitter regarding pro wrestling’s declining television ratings. Punk tells the publication that cable TV is dying, and that he’s pumped to be selling out arenas everywhere AEW goes.
“I’ve long said that I’m there for the fans in the building. Nowadays everybody is still focused on ratings numbers when cable is absolutely — I canceled DirecTV months ago. I just, I couldn’t do it anymore. It’s too convoluted. It’s too expensive. Streaming services are, I feel like, are the future. So when people look at ratings and say that wrestling is dying, I say, ‘Well look at our buildings. We’re selling out and we’re doing our first million-dollar gate.”
Most importantly, Punk seems happy. He ends his interview by claiming that his entire time in AEW has been a real treat, and credits that to everyone behind-the-scenes, even using the term the “spirit of AEW.”
“So I don’t attribute that just to me. I attribute that to the spirit of AEW and everybody behind the scenes that makes it all work and makes it all click. But the run, my run specifically, my stuff as a whole, I’ve never been happier in a wrestling ring. I’ve never, to me, been telling more fluid, better, reality-based stories. It’s been a real treat.”
Punk defeated John Silver on last night’s episode of AEW Dynamite. He’s only lost one match (to MJF) since his return.
