Opinion: This Is CM Punk’s Last Chance

This weekend at Survivor Series 2023, Hell froze over as CM Punk returned to WWE after being away from the company for almost 10 years. There is no doubt that this return is outstanding for business because as of the time of this article, the return has been viewed on WWE‘s social media channels almost 30,000,000 times.

However, while this is incredible for the company’s history, it creates an incredible divide, which has already been seen with how both top talent and the locker room responded immediately. I’m sure that most fans are overjoyed, but many are both disappointed and skeptical.

I am one of those people who are incredibly skeptical.

If you have read any of my previous opinion posts or heard me on The Hoots Podcast, you know how I feel about CM Punk. I think that he is an overrated, egotistical, self-centered jackass who is only in business for himself and couldn’t give a damn about anybody else in the locker room. He abandoned WWE in early 2014 because he didn’t get what he wanted and was fired from AEW following a backstage incident earlier this year.

The fact that somebody could get fired from the most inept major professional wrestling company, perhaps of all time, is saying something. In all fairness, I will give Punk some credit for finding a way to get away from the sinking ship that is AEW, but that’s another opinion article for another time.

However, 10 years is a long time. And a lot has changed.

As Triple H mentioned in the media scrum at Survivor Series, both he and Punk are very different people, and WWE is a very different company. Furthermore, The Game is an incredible business person and has been firing on all cylinders since he took control of creative.

If there’s anybody that can keep Punk’s massively inflated ego in check, it’s Triple H.

I will also say this: I’m all about second chances. If Punk learned his lesson in AEW and realized that he could be happy and WWE with a different regime, this might work.

However, this is Phil Brooks’ last chance in professional wrestling. If he screws this up, it’s over for him, and nobody in the right mind would take him back. However, if this is done the right way, it could put a happy ending on one of the most unique careers of all time and might end up writing a ship that has been very misdirected over the last 15 years or so.

There is no doubt that CM Punk being back in WWE allows us to have some incredible moments that will be talked about for a very long time. If this goes well, I will be the first person to admit it, admit when I was wrong, and may even once again become a fan of his.

But history always finds a way to repeat itself, and as Maya Angelou once said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

As of right now, I am very skeptical. And you should be too. But let’s see what happens. Either way, this is going to be one hell of a ride.

 

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