“The Voice of the Voiceless” finally had his voice heard on WWE programming live in front of the WWE Universe for the first time in nearly a decade this past Monday night.
Following his surprise return to WWE at the Survivor Series 2023 premium live event in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois last weekend, CM Punk cut his first promo on WWE television in several years on Monday night’s follow-up episode of RAW.
During a recent episode of his “Hall Of Fame” podcast, two-time WWE Hall of Fame legend and WWE NXT commentator Booker T spoke about “The Best in the World” nearly getting choked up during what he called an emotional promo earlier this week.
“I said [his return promo in AEW] wasn’t the best promo I ever saw, it could have had more substance to it, and a lot of people gave me backlash because I said that, because I didn’t say ‘it was the greatest promo in the world,” Booker began. “It was a pipe-bomb!’ In this promo on Monday night, it was a heartfelt promo, that’s what I think. At points in time, CM Punk got caught in the moment a little bit, he almost got choked up a little bit. I know this, when you leave a company and come back, you wonder how the fans are going to treat you. You wonder if they’re going to boo you out of the building. You just don’t know. For CM Punk, the way he left, very polarizing, and then to come back.”
He continued, “Even in Chicago, he might have had that feeling wondering, ‘How is it going to be?’ For CM Punk to come out, not having that comfort zone (on Monday) of being in Chicago, wondering, ‘How are they going to react?’ Then, they give him the ultimate pop. That does something to you. This promo that he cut, it felt like a heartfelt promo. Seemed like he was speaking from the heart. It seemed like he had some notes written, but sometimes you forget the script and just go with the heart. For me, it wasn’t the greatest ‘promo promo’ as far as ‘I’m going to whoop everyone’s ass in the locker room’ promo, which is what I’m looking for a lot of times. It was not that.”
Check out the complete episode of the “Hall Of Fame” podcast with Booker T via the YouTube player embedded below. H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.