A former member of the WWE creative team believes that CM Punk’s return promo could have been better.
While the shock of Punk returning to WWE after more than 9 years will be remembered for years to come, his return promo is less likely to be featured in future video packages. Instead of being the master of the mic that fans remembered, the former AEW star cut a very watered-down promo where he was thankful to be home. The only line that fans felt was genuine was the off-mic statement that was uttered at the end; “I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to make money.”
Freddie Prize Jr., who used to serve as a writer for WWE, critiqued the segment on his podcast Wrestling with Freddie. Prinze Jr. believes that if Punk is back to make a ton of money, he should have dressed in a corporate manner and doubled down on this, shocking the crowd in the process:
“I would have liked to have seen him come out in a suit and tie, and the whole crowd would have been like, ‘What?’ And he’d have gone, ‘This is why I’m back. And the last sentence of his promo, which was the only unscripted part should have been the beginning of the promo. That would have put every single fan on notice that this is a different CM Punk.”
Prinze Jr. continued, further pitching an entitled Punk character that demands the big matches and the big paycheck because he feels that he is the big star:
“He should have said, ‘I’m gonna be handed the World Heavyweight Championship match. I’m not gonna wrestle to earn a title shot. I’ve already been promised a shot, and Seth Rollins is gonna have to deal with it.'”
CM Punk Set For Historical Appearance
Although Punk has now appeared at a Premium Live Event and on Raw, he has yet to make his return to SmackDown, where he last competed on the show back in January 2014. On December 8th, CM Punk will make his first WWE SmackDown appearance in nearly a decade.
H/t to Wrestling Inc.