WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff spoke about the return of CM Punk on the latest edition of his Strictly Business podcast, where Easy E predicted that Punk’s run could be miraculous as long as he remains motivated. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
On CM Punk’s return:
CM Punk showing up in WWE, clearly there’s what, a decade’s worth of story there? His role in WWE, the way he left, the Pipebomb Promo, which by the way, I found out subsequently was actually written for him, but the story is there. There’s been this anticipation that’s been brewing since the minute he left AEW. ‘Oh is he gonna come back?’ ‘Yes he is.’ ‘No, he isn’t.’ The anticipation has been there, almost instantly. It didn’t have to be created or manufactured. The reality is the authenticity of it all. All of the stuff that we’ve been reading about for 18 months with regard to Punk and AEW and the drama with The Elite, the press conference, that’s all real. That isn’t a storyline. These are all things that happened. It’s authentic. It’s not a manufactured story. So you’ve got great story, history, backstory. You’ve got anticipation that was built in from the moment the news broke that Punk was being let go. The authenticity can’t be doubted. The surprise was pulled off perfectly, and now we have action coming up next. That’s the easy part of wrestling. The action is the easy part. The story’s the hard part. Creating anticipation is a challenge. Keeping it real and authentic is also a big challenge, especially in the world of professional wrestling. Surprises are few and far between, authentic ones, ones that really catch people by surprise and you get the response that you hope for, which clearly happened at Survivor Series. All that’s left now is where does he go? What’s the action like? I don’t think there’s any question we’re going to see great action. Especially because there’s a great story, and there’s a lot of anticipation for who he’s going to work with and what that storyline is gonna look like. I think Punk coming in at Survivor Series knocked it completely out of the park, which indicates to me that this is going be a very, very successful, long-term financially successful decision, provided that the wheels don’t fall off because of personal issues.
Believes Punk second run could be better than his first if he stays motivated:
I’m pretty sure Punk is going to…provided he wants to, motivation is the core of this, right? If Punk woke up and said, ‘Look, I want to have one more really, really good run,’ and if he’s willing to be a team player, I think he’s going to be very successful in WWE. He’s not going to be able to get away with the same kind of silliness, nor will he be exposed to the same kind of backstage environment that he was exposed to in AEW. He’s going to have to learn to deal with a more corporate, structured environment. If he’s willing, if his intentions are such that he really wants to make this work and be a team player, I think his second run will be better than his first in WWE.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)