CM Punk

Debuting in All Elite Wrestling is something CM Punk won't soon forget.

Punk said on ESPN's SportsNation Wednesday that walking through the curtain on AEW Dynamite in August was "pretty crazy" and "the No. 1 moment of my career." (His comments begin around the 1:40 mark.)

"I've been fortunate; I've done a lot of cool things," he said. "... To come back after seven years and have that be the response shows you, I think, that I left my fingerprints all over the industry."

Punk had a bitter divorce from WWE in 2014 and later aired out his longstanding grievances with the company.

Paul Heyman, who worked closely with Punk in WWE, also told Chris Jericho in 2014 the former world champion had been disgruntled for some time.

"Every day with him was an exercise in him finding the balance to simply continue on and find the passion he needed that he to do it," Heyman said (via Grahame Herbert of WhatCulture).

That likely made Punk's AEW debut feel all the more cathartic. His emotion was evident as he basked in the cheers from his hometown crowd in Chicago.

From a fan's perspective, it felt like watching somebody fall in love with wrestling again.

Given what it represented, it's not a surprise that Punk lists it at the top of his achievements.

AEW star Eddie Kingston didn't hold back in expressing his dislike for AEW's CM Punk and WWE's Cesaro this week.

In an interview with News 12 in Bronx, New York (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Eric Mutter), Kingston explained why he doesn't have a fond view of Punk or Cesaro.

Regarding Punk and the recent on-screen rivalry he had with him in AEW, Kingston said:

"The thing with Punk, I guess you could say the 'promo,' it wasn't a promo. He doesn't like me, I don't like him. And we've had a lot of things to say to each other that we've never had the chance to say to each other. We've either said it to friends, mutual friends of each other, or we just decided to ignore each other or whatever. There's a lot of other things, I'm not going to get too inside baseball on it, there's a lot of stuff that went on behind the scenes that nobody really needs to know. But yeah, that wasn't a promo. That was something we've both wanted to say to each other for 15 years. That was 15 years of buildup for both of us."

Punk and Kingston cut heated, personal promos on each other several weeks ago ahead of their match at Full Gear last month.

Their match was a physical, hard-hitting affair that was won by Punk. Kingston said Tuesday that he and Punk "actually fought" in the match and didn't shake hands afterward.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Michael Perry of Ringside News) recently reported there is real-life heat between Punk and Kingston because of something that happened between them in IWA Mid-South in the early-to-mid 2000s.

Meltzer said an unnamed wrestler told him he was in the locker room when Punk called Kingston and his tag-team partner at the time, Blackjack Marciano, "fat, lazy and unsafe."

It is less obvious why Kingston has an issue with Cesaro, but he spoke out against the Swiss Superman this week as well, saying:

"There's certain people in wrestling I do not like. Punk is one. Cesaro is another one, the big Swiss idiot in WWE. I know him as Claudio [Castagnoli]. I don't like him, I don't respect him. If he ever comes here, we're going to have a problem. Or whenever his contract's up. I don't even pay attention to what he does. But guys like that, I just don't like, don't respect."

Back in May, Kingston called Cesaro a "scumbag" and said his dislike for Cesaro stems from Cesaro not putting him over in Chikara before he signed with WWE in 2011.

Kingston has also said he has issues with Chris Hero, who was Cesaro's longtime tag-team partner on the independent scene.

It doesn't seem likely Cesaro and Kingston will cross paths in AEW any time soon, as Cesaro reportedly re-signed with WWE earlier this year, and the seven-time WWE tag-team champion remains a regular contributor on SmackDown.

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Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from WWE and AEW. 

Big E Thinks AEW Is 'Great' for Wrestlers

More than two years after its launch, AEW has proved itself to be anything but a "pissant" company. The Tony Khan-backed venture has become WWE's first legitimate competition in two decades and has made major splashes over the course of the last year bolstering its roster with high-profile talent.

While the competition has forced some trash talk between the two sides, WWE champion Big E isn't getting into the fracas. In fact, he thinks AEW is good for the business—including WWE itself. 

“I think it forces us to raise our game,” Big E told The Illuminerdi (9:43 mark). “If you watch their shows, and you see rabid fans/people losing their minds and people loving those shows. It should make us want to say, ‘Yo! We want to be dominating them. We want to step our game up. We want to put on the better show.'

“I think it’s just also very good we have men and women who may not fit here in WWE, who may not want—whatever it is,” Big E added. “But now they have a place they can go. And they can wrestle. They can make money. They can live their dream. They can be on TV, so I think it’s great.”

Roman Reigns, by contrast, has been a little more dismissive of the mark made by AEW, although it's hard to tell how much of his comments were made in character.

The fact of the matter is, Big E is right. AEW has been incredible for the wrestling business, especially with WWE shedding talent on a seemingly monthly basis. The qualitative improvements haven't quite taken shape for WWE yet, but the pressure is only going to continue ratcheting up as AEW expands its fanbase. 

Matt Hardy Says Vince Saw Him as Producer

While Matt Hardy's AEW run hasn't reached the creative heights of his Broken Universe in Impact, his late-career reinvention as Big Money Matt has helped elevate several younger members of the AEW roster—most notably Private Party.

As Hardy prepared to leave WWE for AEW, the veteran said WWE made one last "Hail Mary" offer to keep him in the company. Hardy said the offer was for a large chunk of money and would have had him working with Randy Orton. However, Hardy thought the writing was already on the wall for his time as an in-ring competitor with WWE when Vince McMahon said he wanted him as a producer.

“They offered some good deals and good money. But I said it’s important to me that I’m going to be treated appropriately as a wrestler. Because there’s this thing there with Vince and older wrestlers he just feels like they are done. Even if there’s things they could utilize,” he said on AEW Unrestricted. “I think Tony Khan does a masterful job of putting older guys into certain positions where they can succeed and they can optimize their efforts and their talents.

“After talking to Vince a little bit, I saw that he wanted me to wrestle a little bit. But he wasn’t up on utilizing me a lot in different roles. I never wanted to be a champion, I don’t want to be champion. I don’t need to be champion. I just wanted to be in a good role where I can work with other people and I can help the younger guys and stay relevant on my own.”

Hardy joined AEW in March 2020 and has been a fixture ever since. His attempt to recreate the Broken movement wasn't much of a success, but the Hardy Family Office has been a running stable for nearly all of 2021.

Even if he's not quite in his prime, it's clear Hardy still has something left in the tank.

Bruce Prichard Talks CM Punk's Trouble Relating to Older Talent

It's no secret CM Punk didn't particularly relate to the old guard during his WWE run. WWE producer Bruce Prichard opened up about Punk having to prove himself when he first debuted. 

“I think from the day that Punk stepped into the WWE locker room, that there was that perception from a lot of people, until, you know, Punk actually did it," Prichard said on his podcast. "Despite that, there were still the doubters in that regard. But at this time, I really don’t think it was just Triple H. It was a lot of the old-timers that viewed him, ‘What the hell is this guy?’ Punk was brand new here.” 

Of course, Punk went on to become the wrestling community's darling, the alternative to cookie-cutter John Cena.

It's fair to say Punk is the most influential wrestler of the current crop of stars. 

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