CM Punk On Whether He Thinks He’s Made AEW More Legitimate, What He’s Missed Most About Wrestling

In a recent interview on The Rich Eisen Show, CM Punk discussed whether he thinks he’s made AEW more legitimate by joining the company, what aspects of wrestling he’s missed the most, and much more. You can read his comments below.

CM Punk on whether he thinks he’s made AEW more “legitimate” by joining the company: “I try to keep my feet on the ground when I hear stuff like that, but I understand that and think there’s some truth to it. I just don’t want it to blow my ego up because I do take that as a quasi-responsibility. To me, it’s great that I’m here, it’s great that Bryan Danielson is here in AEW. But to me, we’ve got to start the work. I don’t want to rest on my laurels and just be like, ‘I’m here now, everything is great.’ I want to do fun stuff, but I also want to help build the company.”

On what aspects of wrestling he missed the most: “It’s definitely the selfish stuff. The road of the crowd, the adrenaline rush you get it feeding off the people. Performing in front of crazy, rabid, sold-out crowds like 20,000 people at Arthur Ashe Stadium, or just walking out onto the ramp in front of 15,000 people at the United Center. Those things I haven’t done in so long, so it’s almost like they’re new again. Engaging in pro wrestling with guys who maybe grew up watching me is kind of a trip, but it’s exciting too because there’s whole new generation of new and hungry wrestlers that I guess look up to me as kind of a role model. So, I feel like I’m in this position of player/coach, old gnarly guy who has a couple of tricks up his sleeve and wants the team to succeed and win, but along the way, helps some guys out.”

On possibly considering wrestling in Japan in the near future: “I’m both feet in on AEW, but I know a bunch of New Japan guys wind up coming over and wrestling on AEW Dynamite and Rampage. I’m not adverse to the idea, but I know they’re in the throws of their G1 and stuff like that, so I don’t know if they can spare the guys. And I think because of the pandemic, you don’t see a whole lot of travel from America to Japan. I definitely think you’d have to do a hard quarantine once you got to Japan, and I just don’t think that’s a viable option at this point. I gotta do that when I kick acting gigs, and that’s hard enough. To be in Japan for two weeks sitting in a hotel, I’d probably lose my mind. But I’m for sure interested.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit The Rich Eisen Show with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.