Since leaving WWE back in 2014, many fans simply lost hope that CM Punk would ever return to pro wrestling. However, the impossible happened as CM Punk debuted on this week’s AEW Rampage: The First Dance. He was in talks with AEW for quite a long time as well.
CM Punk’s debut in AEW took the world by storm and he has singlehandedly become the most talked-about pro wrestler on the planet right now. This certainly pleased Mick Foley.
On the other hand, Booker T had a different opinion when it came to CM Punk’s debut promo as he felt Punk didn’t deliver the best he could with his promo.
While speaking to Joseph Staszewski of The New York Post, CM Punk was asked about AEW’s current ratings and if professional wrestling is heading into another boom period. Punk stated that he isn’t chasing lapsed pro wrestling fans, who stopped watching the product for years.
“I think people will always harken back to, ‘Oh, X amount of people used to watch this, where are those millions and millions of people? Where did they go?’ It’s why I don’t put a whole lot of stock in ratings and demographics. It’s not my job. I know TNT, I know the executives love that stuff, but I don’t like movies simply because somebody else likes a movie. I don’t go to restaurants simply because it’s highly rated. They serve something I’m allergic to so I’m not gonna go ahead and eat it.
I definitely think stuff’s trending upward and it feels hot right now. I don’t know if I can call it a boom period. Attitude Era, how many people were watching? So there are a lot of people out there who are not watching. I think chasing all those fans who don’t watch any more can be detrimental. I’m about giving our fans, who are here in the arena, I’m about giving them what they want and making them happy.
Yes, mainstream popularity for television shows, yes that stuff is great and I think that audience can eventually come and that’s what AEW has. You watch it on television and you go, ‘Look at those people in the stands, they’re having a blast. I need to go to that. I need to watch that. I need to get into this.’ And if you are just trying to chase people who aren’t watching, people who maybe watched 10 years ago, that’s a crapshoot. You could be shooting yourself in the foot,”
While CM Punk isn’t interested in bringing back lapsed fans, it is certainly a fact that he did help bring back many fans who had stopped watching pro wrestling since he left WWE in 2014.
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September 1, 2021 8:05 am