On the weekend of March 5th, Ring of Honor will honor five of its most iconic superstars, including The American Dragon Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe and the Briscoe Brothers. The final inductee is none other than CM Punk.
Armed with AFI’s Miseria Cantare, an in-your-face attitude and a hybrid style of wrestling, CM Punk debuted in Ring of Honor in 2002. Punk had notable feuds with Samoa Joe, arguably the most revolutionary trilogy of matches in the history of the independents, and former ECW World Champion Raven. In fact, it was the second match in the Samoa Joe trilogy that was the first match since The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels Hell ina Cell match in 1997 to garner five-stars on the Meltzer scale. He also formed The Second City Saints with Colt Cabana, a team that would twice win the Ring of Honor Tag Team Championships. Yet, it was the Summer of Punk that etched CM Punk as Ring of Honor’s most pivotal wrestler and truly put the brand on the map.
CM Punk had a tryout match against Val Venis that aired on episode of Sunday Night Heat in May of 2005. The match landed him a WWE deal ahead of his match with incumbent Ring of Honor World Champion Austin Aries at the third annual Death Before Dishonor event. In a stunning outcome, CM Punk won the gold, embarking on a heel run now-known as “The Summer of Punk.” Punk threatened to take the championship to WWE, though he defended it regularly against the likes of James Gibson, Roderick Strong, Christopher Daniels and Jay Lethal over his 55-day reign.
CM Punk had a successful career in WWE, debuting in 2006 and winning six World Championships and accumulating the Grand Slam honor over the course of his eight years with the promotion. Punk is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling, where he’s set to take on Maxwell Jacob Friedman in a Dog Collar Match at the upcoming Revolution Pay-Per-View.
A feature on CM Punk’s tenure with ROH will air in one week on ROH’s YouTube Channel.
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