CM PUNK Returns To WWE (Sort Of) What Happens Now?
CM Punk Is Makes His First Appearance On WWE Since 2014
CM Punk is one of the many reasons why I got back into wrestling. Before the Invasion storyline, I stopped watching and for good reason. However, in 2005 I made sure I was tuning in once again. Not to mention going to live events including the first Saturday Night Main Event in 10 years in Detroit, Michigan. And that was quite the experience. One of the many reasons why I got back into wrestling was hearing about ECW making a return to television. Despite how disappointing that turned out to be, there was one wrestler that caught my attention (other than Kelly Kelly and Ashley) And his name is CM Punk.
His booking was perfect up until December To Dismember. Much like other wrestling fans, I try to pretend that Pay-Per-View never existed. And I knew that he would be around for a while. And I had a feeling he would be a main eventer for WWE. So, I continued to tune in and I can honestly say, his run as WWE champion as a heal remain my favorite to this day. The best CM Punk match though is the title for title match against John Cena where he “left” the WWE with the title.
Fast forward to the day he left and I still stuck around. What’s more, I continued to hope for an earlier return. But when the Undertaker lost at WrestleMania against Brock Lesnar I officially quit watching altogether. And I’m sure others did as well. In fact, this is when the end of the Ruthless Aggression era officially ended in my opinion.
Now we are looking at 2019. Even after CM Punk receiving his papers the day of his wedding, suing the WWE and stirring the pot, he’s back.
Look In My Eyes What Do you See? CM Punk On Fox TV!
I’m going to go ahead and start of by saying CM Punk is not back with the WWE. In fact, he’s under a Fox TV contract. But now Vince MacMahon and others who may have some issues with the wrestler, have to deal with him on a regular basis. But why would Fox do something like this? What makes them think they can force him into the company? Well the answer is simple: AEW.
Some of you may remember the Monday Night Wars. As previously stated, the Invasion storyline is regarded as an absolute mess. WWE purchased WCW and we think about what could have been. And with the company having no competition, there was a monopoly even during TNA and Impact wrestling. However I’m not going into that mess either. Let’s just say there was very little the company could do to even compete with the largest wrestling entertainment company.
Fast forward to today, AEW is already proving to be a company of worth. A worthy adversary and a potential threat to the WWE. And Fox knows this. Much like every other company they’re in it for the money. Enter CM Punk. After all its what the fans want and companies stand by the golden rule. Give the people what they want.
What Happens Next?
Well, there’s a lot that can be said about this historic return. From the Rock calling Punk after a Smackdown taping some years back to the chants in the arenas. Especially during the Monday Night Raw show following WrestleMania. But none of us thought this would ever happen. Especially after the behind the scenes politics. But now the question is, what happens now? Well as far as we can tell, there is no promise CM Punk will lace a pair of boots. Fox simply made the decision to pay large amounts of money just to have him show is face and boost ratings. After all, WWE is slowly losing viewers every week.
But what will AEW do to follow this up? More importantly, what will Fox do to make sure that booking Punk will maintain an increase of ratings over time? If you oversaturate your only good product, eventually people will become bored of what you’re offering. Which means they may need to pull the trigger on putting Punk in some kind of feud or long term storyline for this to work.
For now, lets just enjoy this and tune in to see what happens next.
