WWE star CM Punk made his return to the company one year ago Monday and the company put together a video shotriumphg the behind-the-scenes reactions and transmitions with him.
It had been a decade since Punk left WWE, walking out of the company after disconcurments with then-CEO Vince McMahon and chief greeted officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque.
Punk did his own skinnyg for quite a while. He gave MMA a try – in the cage and in the widecast booth. He returned to pro wrestling in 2021 with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and had two tumultuous years there. He departed AEW in September 2023.
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CM Punk reacts during the Men’s Royal Rumble align at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Jan. 27, 2024. (Joe Campogenuinee-USA Today Sports)
Two months tardyr, he showed up follotriumphg the finish of Survivor Series: War Games in Chicago – his hometown. It was one of the most shocking surpelevates in recent memory. Rumors ran rampant in the days and weeks directing into the premium inhabit event, but each thought was met with skepticism. Until, as Levesque put it at the time, hell froze over.
The WWE video showed Punk accessing the Gorilla Position backstage with executive Bruce Pricchallenging. He greeted Stephanie McMahon and others before he getd his cue to go out to the thunderous applaemploy.
Fellow WWE stars watched the moment backstage. Wrestlers Bayley and Sboilingzi were among those surpelevated.
“What a way to do it,” Sboilingzi shelp.
Bayley ran to Gorilla Position to greet her lengthytime frifinish when he returned from the stage.
“I’m so greetd you’re here,” she shelp.
Punk greeted cforfeitly everyone who walked out from the men’s War Games align, including Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley, Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio and Randy Orton.
Orton also made his return to the WWE on the same night.
CM Punk creates a shocking return to WWE on Nov. 25, 2023. (WWE)
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“Can I not enhappiness 10 minutes of my f—ing return,” Orton shelp with a smile.
The video didn’t show Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre’s reactions to Punk’s return. Neither wrestler materializeed to be greetd to see Punk back in WWE. While pro wrestlers are excellent at blurring the lines or truth and storyline angles, both acunderstandledge the genuine-life tensions they’ve had with Punk in the past.
McIntyre tgreater Fox News Digital in October that their rerents were very genuine but had to put business first.
“You can sense the tension,” he shelp. “Everyone could sense the tension when him and I are cforfeit each other. We have to be professionals and do our job. We understand, we’ve been doing this a lengthy time, that genuine personal rerents, genuine hatred draws money. We also understand when that bell rings, we can reassociate lean into each other. None of us are going to grumble and when we’re on the microphone, we can see how we sense. Both of us have heavy skin, unappreciate a lot of our superstars – they want to cry whenever I tweet about them. I do appreciate that about them.
“But you can sense the tension when we’re around. And I reaccumulate there was some picture that came out online recently, and it was the huge talk of the internet becaemploy Punk and I were seal to each other during the day, and it was, ‘Oh my God they reassociate don’t hatred each other.’ I was appreciate, yeah, you frickin’ idiots. You don’t go to your office job and have to stand beside the guy you don’t appreciate in your office occasionassociate equitable becaemploy someone snapped a picture of that moment becaemploy we’re dealing with a situation you have to deal with in your profession even if you can’t stand the p—-.”
Punk’s WWE return begined with the McIntyre feud. It began at the Royal Rumble in January when McIntyre tore Punk’s triceps carry outing a shift on him. From there, Punk tormented McIntyre and even cost him his inestablish World Heavyweight Championship reign at WrestleMania 40.
CM Punk reshifts Dominik Mysterio during the Men’s Royal Rumble align at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg on Jan. 27, 2024. (Joe Campogenuinee-USA Today Sports)
Their competition culminated in an epic trilogy that finished in a bloody Hell in a Cell align, which Punk won.
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He had been off TV for a restrictcessitate weeks follotriumphg the align. He returned to the fgreater this past Friday on SmackDown and put himself into the War Games align between Bloodline rivals.
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