It’s been over 6 years since the second city savior decided to take his ball and go home. The reasons why have been well documented and discussed at length by all but my question is, is he still worth all the noise in the end?
Hear me out, I loved CM Punk. For a period of time, he truly was the “best in the world”. The run he had from the infamous pipe bomb moment to the Rumble and his match with The Rock is up there with the finest run in the last 10 years for a WWE superstar.
If we were being honest, his run prior to the pipe bomb didn’t set the WWE universe a light. I can already hear you say “he wasn’t liked by Vince and Triple H” but he was giving numerous opportunities by management. I just think during that period, it didn’t fully connect with the audience.
From WrestleMania in 2008 to November 2009, he won Money in Bank twice, he won the WWE Championship twice, won tag team gold with Kofi Kingston and won the IC title twice. Hardly a superstar with no opportunities now is it? During that time, he and Jeff Hardy gave us their great feud that blurred the lines between TV and reality.
He was then the leader of the straight edge society. He continued to be featured heavily and showcased time after time his skills on the mic. (I’m going to ignore that New Nexus thing, no one needs to be reminded of that).
This then takes us up to the infamous pipe bomb in 2011. Did he have a point with his pipe bomb? Yeah, of course, he did, but only to a point. He continued to state he wasn’t given opportunities and that’s not entirely true. He was featured on whichever brand he was on, given a number of titles over a 3-year period.
Now, his run from the pipe bomb until he left wasn’t without its faults and we all know them. The Kevin Nash nonsense, losing to Triple H and so forth but he was still seen as a main event guy. Then, for reasons we all know, he split.
He decided to try his hand at MMA. I’m not going to knock a guy for trying something he always wanted to do, but he got his butt handed to him twice. His last fight in the octagon was in 2018 against Mike Jackson. That was over 2 years ago and most would say his MMA career is now done.
This brings me to now. I can’t say I miss him. I watched him on WWE Backstage once and after that, I wasn’t overly fussed. Outside of his three-year hot run, I don’t get the hype to bring him back. I don’t think he’d move the ratings much for either WWE or AEW long term now. Does the casual fan care enough about him for them to tune in over a sustained period of time? I don’t think they do.
Sure, the internet fan base would love it. Yes, he would trend on Twitter and be the buzz of the industry for a few weeks. It would then quieten down, people would get used to seeing him again and the buzz will fade.
This brings me to the question, is he worth all the noise he brings whenever a comeback to wrestling is mooted? In my own opinion, no, not now he doesn’t.
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