"Greatest wrestling return of all time" - Twitter erupts on CM Punk's one-year anniversary in AEW
AEW fans showed their excitement on social media as August 20, 2022 marks the one-year anniversary of CM Punk's debut in the company.
The Straight Edge Superstar made his first appearance in All Elite Wrestling at The First Dance event on Rampage. Punk's first match in AEW was against Darby Allin at All Out 2021, his in-ring return finally coming after seven years.
CM Punk's first major feud in the Jacksonville-based promotion was against MJF, which culminated with a Dog Collar match at Revolution 2022. He then proceeded to win the AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing after defeating Hangman Page via pinfall. However, an injury shortly after resulted in him taking off to recuperate.
Punk made his return at the Quake By The Lake edition of Dynamite and had a confrontation with interim AEW World Champion Jon Moxley. On this week's Wednesday night show, he cut a controversial promo where he called out Hangman Page by going off-script.
The Twitterati exploded on his one-year anniversary in AEW despite the recent negativity surrounding the former WWE Superstar. Here are a few of the reactions to it:
One year ago today, CM Punk broke the whole internet when he made his return to professional wrestling debuting in AEW at the United Center.
A year later, he's currently the AEW World Champion. This was easily the best wrestling debut of all time. https://t.co/jM7qpCC3Ql
One year ago today, CM Punk made his return to pro-wrestling after a 7 year hiatus.
One of the greatest crowd reactions of all time.
An unreal & unforgettable night.
https://t.co/a7IXOqd9w3
@AEW @CMPunk Greatest return in history thank you @TonyKhan
@AEW @CMPunk The crowd gave him one of the most loud reactions ever on that night
Happy CM Punk Day.
I'm rewatching his return and crying like a baby, hbu? #AEW twitter.com/GenerationZed1โฆ https://t.co/s8AaJhin27
@AEW @CMPunk Still canโt believe this happened. Greatest moment in AEW history!
1 year ago today.
The return of Cm Punk. The greatest wrestling return of all time. โค๏ธโค๏ธhttps://t.co/6MOZ6So7xI
@AEW @CMPunk 1 of the greatest moments in wrestling history. Amazing still gives me tears
Say what you will about the current backstage in #AEW , but everyone can agree that @CMPunk's debut one year ago, made an impact on how the product from both the companies was put forward. It DID change the business.
@AEW @CMPunk Biggest pop of the last 10/15 years
You can check out the full results of AEW Rampage HERE.
WWE legend Bully Ray slammed CM Punk for his recent segment on AEW Dynamite
While speaking on the latest edition of the Busted Open podcast, Ray spoke about Punk calling out Hangman Page in his promo, and the wrestling veteran wasn't a fan of it. Bully Ray said he didn't see the point in burying Page in front of his hometown crowd:
โPutting Hangman [Page] back into this picture doesnโt really do anything for me, but I do agree with why go out of your way to bury him in his hometown? Why go from cowboy sh*t to coward sh*t? Now if Hangman doesnโt answer that coward sh*t line, now people have to look at him like heโs a bit of a b**ch. If Iโm a Hangman fan Iโm wondering โhey, where were you last night?โ And if you never answer this, and I think he will, because AEW is good at planting a seed here and not coming back to it for a while,โ said Ray.
While Punk is in the midst of controversy in AEW, he has a huge title unification match coming up against Jon Moxley on next week's Dynamite. It will be interesting to see who emerges victorious and becomes the undisputed champion in Tony Khan's promotion.
How do you rate CM Punk's first year in All Elite Wrestling? Let us know in the comments section below.