The decision has been made.
“The Best in the World” CM Punk made his decision, as advertised, regarding which brand he will sign with and compete for exclusively going forward in his WWE career.
During this week’s episode of WWE Monday Night RAW from the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio, RAW General Manager Adam Pearce brought out CM Punk and asked him to make his decision and announce which brand he will be signing with.
CM Punk cut a lengthy promo looking back at his infamous walk-out of WWE nearly ten years ago and then ultimately decided to sign and join the RAW brand.
Featured below is a detailed recap of the entire segment culminating with the contract signing portion of things before Seth “Freakin'” Rollins came out for the rest of the segment.
We shoot live backstage where we see Raw General Manager Adam Pearce with a contract in-hand walking the hallways. He approaches CM Punk’s locker room, knocks on the door and walks in as we head into another commercial break.
When we return, we see Raw G.M. Adam Pearce make his way to the ring with a contract in his hands. He mentions how he’s spoken with Nick Aldis of SmackDown and Shawn Michaels of NXT, but now it’s time for CM Punk to make his way down to the ring and make his decision on which brand he is going to sign with.
With that said, Pearce formally introduces “The Best in the World” and Cult of Personality by Living Colour plays as CM Punk emerges in his “Hell Froze Over” t-shirt to fans loudly chanting “CM Punk! CM Punk!” as he settles inside the squared circle.
He starts by mentioning the big decision ahead of him. He says this city and this particular venue hasn’t always been kind to him. He mentions how this is the building he made his debut in. He says he had Mickie James on his arm. He says after his debut he was sent to OVW and he embraced being uncomfortable and learned how to love it.
Punk then recalls returning to the same building years later as world champion, but he was kicked in the head backstage by Randy Orton and then stripped of the title. He asks if anyone in the building was there ten years ago for this story. He mentions how 10 years ago he had the make the hardest decision of his life in leaving WWE.
CM Punk continues mentioning how he wonders if anyone in Cleveland bought a ticket that night to see CM Punk only for him not to show up. He mentions a story of a young fan who fits that exact description. He apologizes to anyone else like this who was affected by his decision to walk out of the company.
Now he moves on to talk about the talks he had with Nick Aldis and Shawn Michaels about possibly signing contracts to join SmackDown or NXT. He says Adam Pearce has put together a deal that is honestly head and shoulders better than both of those other deals. He says if he’s very real or very honest, his mind was already made up when he looked at the calendar and saw Cleveland.
He says he’s here to bury those ghosts and right a few wrongs. He says his future starts now and says you couldn’t write a better television show. Ten years, almost to the day, that CM Punk walked out, he walks right back in. He says if you’re happy or mad about it, you better learn to love it. He tells Adam Pearce that the newest Raw Superstar is named CM Punk. He says CM Punk is home. He signs the contract as fans chant “CM Punk! CM Punk!”