"You came in and you s**t the bed"- WWE Hall of Famer believes CM Punk has been a flop in AEW
Eric Bischoff's recent tirade against AEW continued and saw CM Punk in the crosshairs this week as the WWE Hall of Famer claimed that CM Punk hasn't delivered so far in AEW.
CM Punk has been a regular feature of AEW programming since joining the company, either appearing as a commentator or fighting midcard guys like Daniel Garcia and Matt Sydal.
Eric Bischoff Believes CM Punk Has “Sh*t The Bed” Since Coming To #AEW And Hasn’t Delivered wrestlinginc.com/news/2021/10/e…
Speaking on his podcast 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff said that the Second City Saint has "s**t the bed" upon his return to pro wrestling.
“Punk hasn’t delivered. Punk was the guy that came out and his first comments were ‘The addition of this talent was more significant than Scott Hall and Kevin Nash,’ constantly making references to WCW because they want to be the company that WCW was back in the mid-90s. There’s these constant references to WCW. When Scott Hall and Kevin Nash came in, we took off. Punk, you came in and you sh*t the bed, in terms of ratings. It ain’t there and there’s nothing in reality to suggest otherwise. You just need to be careful about what you say until you’re delivering. That comment that Punk made about these guys being more significant than Hall and Nash in 96 and then two weeks after Punk made his big arrival the ratings dropped by 40-50%," Eric Bischoff said. (h/t: WrestlingInc)
Jim Cornette isn't a fan of CM Punk's booking in AEW either
Jim Cornette on CM Punk Doing Commentary on AEW Dynamite @TheJimCornette youtu.be/YZRxS_3Nvdg via @YouTube
Legendary manager Jim Cornette has expressed his own issues with CM Punk's run in AEW so far. The former Midnight Express and Vader manager pointed out that the Voice of the Voiceless is too big of a star to be appearing on TV every week and wrestling stars of a smaller stature.
"So the ratings have been going down on Rampage since Punk's debut. Now we expected that there would naturally be some drop because you have this once in a lifetime event, you can't do that every week. But now we've gone, basically half, last week was half. So basically, in two months they fell back to half of what Punk return show did and that has been with Punk wrestling. They were in a situation where one of the biggest stars in wrestling hadn't entered a ring in seven years and people were confused if they'll ever see him again and suddenly they get a big number. And after that, they wanna see CM Punk wrestle Darby Allin but since then, we've gone to Daniel Garcia, fine young man, we've gone to Matt Sydal, fine young man, who's next week? The lead singer of the Fine Young Cannibals? They've devalued the idea of watching CM Punk wrestling on television by making it too commonplace," Jim Cornette said.
There is some validity in the argument that seeing CM Punk wrestle almost every week against guys he's guaranteed to defeat dampens his star power and overall impact.
However, the former WWE champion came to AEW to enjoy himself and that's exactly what he's doing. He stated in his first promo that he wanted to fight the young stars of AEW and he's doing just that.
As long as CM Punk is enjoying himself, people should be on board with whatever he decides to do. He has returned from a long hiatus and wants to work his way back into the game. The big money matches against the likes of Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson will surely come in the future. In the meantime, viewers should enjoy the weekly reminders of what made CM Punk such a legend.