{"id":126498,"date":"2024-08-20T12:19:48","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T16:19:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=126498"},"modified":"2024-08-20T12:51:21","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T16:51:21","slug":"cm-punks-return-to-professional-wrestling-three-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/08\/20\/cm-punks-return-to-professional-wrestling-three-years-later\/","title":{"rendered":"CM Punk&#8217;s Return to Professional Wrestling &#8211; Three Years Later"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On August 20th, 2021, <strong>CM Punk<\/strong> made his long-awaited return to professional wrestling. After weeks of speculation and thinly-veiled hints from <strong>AEW<\/strong>, the \u2018Second City Saint\u2019 arrived on <strong>AEW <\/strong><em><strong>Rampage: First Dance.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em><strong><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ByAXCjqBzLg?si=KtoDpmnRh6arOtRL\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over seven years after his last WWE appearance, Punk debuted as a member of the opposition and immediately set the internet alight. His opening promo was\u2026 inflammatory, to say the least, as he made his statement of intent and threw his former employer under the bus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Punk\u2019s first AEW run was certainly a sight to behold. His initial feud with <strong>Darby Allin<\/strong> was an interesting choice, but ultimately their work together helped to boost both profiles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However,\u00a0<span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">his storyline opposite\u00a0<strong>MJF<\/strong> <\/span>really kicked things up a notch.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Better Than You<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Punk\u2019s role as the veteran against MJF\u2019s position as one of the future stars of the business made for compelling viewing on a weekly basis. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both men were on their own level with a microphone in their hands, but their in-ring work also stands out as being excellent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Particularly, their Dog Collar match at <em><strong>AEW Revolution 2022<\/strong><\/em> has been widely regarded as one of, if not Punk\u2019s best match of his AEW career.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/g0vLopf3EaM?si=Qc0AlMurPf_K99ss\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately, Punk\u2019s waxsome wings seemed to take him too close to the sun, as he became embroiled in a fiery feud with <strong>\u2018Hangman\u2019 Adam Page<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Cowboy Shots<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Page and Punk\u2019s work together was, for the most part, intriguing. However, during the 25th May episode of <em><strong>AEW Dynamite<\/strong><\/em>, a promo segment between the pair blurred the lines between kayfabe and reality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ttt9DsyFzYc?si=3yzjNBHF69zb-Bfs\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, the \u2018Best in the World\u2019 came out on top of this feud and claimed the AEW World Championship in the process. He vanquished his rival and he was on top of the world until he hit a speedbump in the form of <strong>Jon Moxley<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2018Mox\u2019 returned to AEW in May 2022, claiming that he was the rightful AEW World Champion. This threw a spanner into Punk\u2019s plans, which led to a match between the two at <em><strong>AEW All Out 2022<\/strong><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Brawl Out<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Punk vs. Moxley was the main event of <em>AEW All Out 2022<\/em>, with the AEW World Championship on the line. A solid show, with an exciting main event, but the real talking points came after the fact.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Punk picked up the win over Moxley, claiming his second AEW World Championship in the process. After the show, he would go on to take part in his one and only AEW press conference, alongside <strong>Tony Khan<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UBAvjOYD6hs?si=oOIULM5hQA7sk242\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most of the questions asked of Punk were above board until he began to speak about his former adversary &#8211; Page. The \u2018Chick Magnet\u2019 fired off his opinions on Page, <strong>The Young Bucks<\/strong>, and <strong>Kenny Omega<\/strong> (AEW EVPs).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These, of course, were not well-received. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reportedly, there was a backstage incident between <strong>The Elite<\/strong> and Punk, which also allegedly involved <strong>Ace Steel<\/strong>, that would result in all members involved being suspended.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Collision &amp; The &#8216;Real&#8217; World Champion<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Elite made their return to AEW on November 19, 2022. However, Punk wouldn\u2019t be seen in an AEW ring until June 2023, returning at the same time as AEW debuted their Saturday night show, <em><strong>AEW Collision<\/strong><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>AEW Collision<\/em> was, reportedly, established as a way to keep Punk and The Elite separate, all while working under the AEW umbrella.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/D3q6vXUw_3g?si=qjg0h0B0b-x6t9ch\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Punk returned with his AEW World Championship, claiming that he was the \u2018Real\u2019 World Champion, having never lost the belt due to his injury and suspension after <em>AEW All Out 2022<\/em>. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He defended that belt just twice after returning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once against <strong>Ricky Starks<\/strong>, on <em>AEW Collision<\/em>. The other occasion was on August 27th, 2023, at Wembley Stadium.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Brawl In<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prior to his match with <strong>Samoa Joe<\/strong> at <em><strong>AEW All In 2023<\/strong><\/em>,\u00a0 Punk got into a backstage altercation with <strong>Jack Perry<\/strong>. The scuffle between the two ultimately led to Punk getting suspended and eventually, fired from AEW on September 2nd, 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just over two years after returning to professional wrestling, Punk was seemingly gone again. It seemed like Punk had burned all of his bridges in the business, and no one expected to see him again.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Hell Froze Over<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For ten years, WWE fans had chanted the name of a man who wasn\u2019t employed by the company. Punk was a beacon of hope for those who didn\u2019t align with the product they were being served weekly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, after his unceremonious departure from the company in January 2014, nobody expected to see him in WWE ever again. That was until hell froze over at <em><strong>WWE Survivor Series: Wargames 2023<\/strong><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/H1MBYsVamBQ?si=T1GPfly_RUPPjSmU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All night, the attending fans in Chicago, Illinois had been chanting for Punk. However, it didn\u2019t seem as though it would come to fruition until the main event had reached its conclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the show began to go off the air, <em>\u201cCult of Personality\u201d<\/em> hit and the Allstate Arena became unglued.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Ten Years Later<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Punk\u2019s first match in WWE for a decade was the <em><strong>Royal Rumble<\/strong><\/em>. <em>WWE Royal Rumble 2024<\/em> played host to his in-ring return to the company, as he entered, and lasted until the final four.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the excitement of this night, his happiness was short-lived. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Drew McIntyre<\/strong> hit a Future Shock DDT on Punk, which sadly put the \u2018Punker\u2019 on the shelf for six months.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This setback only seemed to fuel Punk, however, as he set out to ensure that McIntyre would never see a moment of peace again. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After physical attacks and verbal violence for the majority of 2024, the pair finally managed to get a match against one another at <em><strong>WWE SummerSlam 2024<\/strong><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With <strong>Seth \u2018Freakin\u2019 Rollins<\/strong> as the Special Guest Referee, McIntyre secured an emphatic victory over Punk. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The duo are set to face off in a Strap Match at <em><strong>WWE Bash in Berlin 2024<\/strong><\/em>, which will likely be the site of a Punk victory, leading to a rubber match at <em><strong>WWE Bad Blood 2024<\/strong><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Three Years of Punk<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s almost impossible to summarise CM Punk\u2019s return to professional wrestling in a succinct fashion, if only due to the amount of headlines that he generates on a seemingly weekly basis. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, considering that it seemed impossible that we would ever see the \u2018Best in the World\u2019 in a professional wrestling ring again until August 20th, 2021, it\u2019s incredible to see just how much has transpired since that day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s to another three years (and more) for the most-discussed man in professional wrestling.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/h3>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">WWE Network<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Peacock<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On August 20th, 2021, CM Punk made his long-awaited return to professional wrestling. After weeks of speculation and thinly-veiled hints from AEW, the \u2018Second City Saint\u2019 arrived on AEW Rampage: First Dance. Over seven years after his last WWE appearance, Punk debuted as a member of the opposition and immediately set the internet alight. His [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5065,"featured_media":126503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4677,2192,4,3],"tags":[4133,7715,3911,8719,140,423,47],"class_list":["post-126498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aew","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-aew","tag-aew-rampage","tag-all-elite-wrestling","tag-brawl-out","tag-cm-punk","tag-the-elite","tag-wwe"],"modified_by":"Chinyere Okafor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5065"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}