AEW Debut

For years, fans clamored for a CM Punk return to the wrestling ring. They would often chant his name during random matches and segments (usually if they were bored) across promotions and around the world. That’s why his reemergence at AEW Rampage in 2021 felt as momentous as Jon Snow rising from the dead.

Set at the United Center in Chicago, a raucous crowd (already anticipating a Punk sighting) lost its shit when the Second City Saint actually showed up. As he walked through the curtain, the “CM Punk” chants drowned out his “Cult Of Personality” entrance song. He stage-dove into the front row, hugging fans who’d been reaching out to embrace him for years. Tears filled the eyes of many in attendance as if they were teens at a Taylor Swift concert—which makes sense, as Punk too was a rock star. And “FI-NALLY,” to quote another star wrestler who at one point left the business for 7 years, CM Punk had come back to the ring.

Punk grabbed a microphone and admitted that he hadn’t prepared a speech because he wanted to react to how he felt in the moment. He addressed the feelings of frustration and disappointment that fans might have experienced based on his past decisions, and that he understood. He hoped they would understand that he was sick—physically and mentally—from the last place he worked (WWE) and that he had to go away to get better.

Punk then spoke about the exciting promises of working at AEW, stating that much like how Ring of Honor was a “place where people could come work, get paid, learn their craft, and love professional wrestling,” so too was AEW.

Needless to say, things ended much differently from how they started for Punk in AEW, but this was a once-in-a-generation, passion-filled return of a pro wrestling icon.