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Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Accomplishments: AEW world champion (2)
There will be those who jump through hoops to argue CM Punk was a greater detriment to AEW than anything, and no argument is going to change their minds.
For everyone else, there is one certainty in AEW history: Punk is the single biggest, most successful and important free-agent signing in the company’s history, and it’s not even remotely close.
His return to professional wrestling after eight years away drew a sell-out crowd to Chicago’s United Center and 1.129 million viewers to the August 20 episode of Rampage. Double or Nothing 2022 became the first million-dollar gate in the history of the company, thanks in large part to The Straight Edge Superstar’s presence.
Omer Q 🍉 @RealOmerQ
To this day, CM Punk’s return at the First Dance is one of the greatest moments in the history of pro-wrestling. pic.twitter.com/RYc8p6KNz4
That success would continue, with four consecutive pay-per-views drawing similar gates and the September 21 episode of Dynamite: Grand Slam at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York also surpassing $1 million.
Punk became the centerpiece attraction for AEW, a guy who fans went out of their way to see.
During his first few months with the company, he worked with young stars, including Powerhouse Hobbs, Darby Allin, Daniel Garcia, Lee Moriarty, FTR, Max Caster and John Silver. His overarching feuds with Eddie Kingston, MJF and Page took on greater magnitude and were must-see, thanks to his ability to cut promos and hype those culminating matches up.
Injuries prevented him from going on a long run as AEW world champion when he defeated Page for the title at Double or Nothing, but he bounced back and defeated Jon Moxley in the main event of All Out 2022 to regain the title.
His legacy in AEW will be tied to a media scrum in which he unleashed a curse-filled rant on the backstage environment in the company and beef with certain EVPs, all of which could have been avoided had the issues with the parties in question been addressed previously.
A brawl ensued backstage and instead of those animosities healing by way of constructive conversation, Punk and the EVPs remained at odds.
The Chicago native returned to the company amid the creation of a third AEW television property, Collision, a star vehicle for him. Backstage situations again reared their head in front of the cameras, leading to the confrontation with Jack Perry backstage at All In at Wembley Stadium in August 2023 that resulted in his termination from the company.
There was plenty of controversy to sink one’s teeth into or point to as evidence that Punk was bad for AEW, but it would be foolish to ignore just how much he helped grow the company’s business.
More viewers, bigger houses, hotter main events, and further proof that a guy who had always succeeded because of his connection to the audience still had the juice to be a top guy in an industry some believed had passed him by.
That he ranks at 13th is debatable, at best.
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