Wrestling

CM Punk made All In attendance jokes while reflecting on his Raw return

March 27, 2024

CM Punk returned to Raw with a live microphone on Monday night (Mar. 25) in his hometown of Chicago. It led to a great segment with WrestleMania XL rivals Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins, and featured (in my opinion) Punk’s best work since returning to WWE last November at Survivor Series.

It included references to Punk & April “AJ Lee” Mendez’s sex life, his 2011 feud with The Rock, The Elite’s least favorite podcaster, and even disgraced former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. Not counting the Jim Cornette shoutout, it was surprisingly light on inferences about Punk’s drama-filled run with AEW. But Punk did have a couple laughs at his former boss’ expense on Instagram while looking back on his appearance.

Understandably, given how they exceeded initial expectations and were just empirically impressive, attendance figures for AEW’s All In PPV at London’s Wembley Stadium last August seemed to be a particular point of pride for the company & its owner Tony Khan. They were also the subject of some controversy when local officials reported the turnstile count of people who’d actually entered Wembley on Aug. 27, 2023 was significantly lower than the record-setting paid attendance figure AEW promoted immediately after the show.

WWE hit some attendance milestones of their own on Monday night at Allstate Arena, which gave Punk an opening to poke fun at the All In attendance situation while thanking the “85k” who attended the show (while also getting a crack in about the recent fuss around profanity on WWE television, and busting Indi Hartwell’s chops for putting ketchup on her hot dog)…

He later provided the actual Raw attendance figures while telling folks not to get upset. He also evaluated his own performance, sent love to his hometown, and quoted one of the most iconic lines from Michael Mann’s classic crime flick Heat.

All In was Punk’s last show with AEW, as by the next weekend Khan had fired him for his role in an altercation with Jack Perry backstage at Wembley Stadium. It’s worked out well for Punk, and AEW seems to be regaining its footing after a roller coaster couple of years — but neither side has stopped making these kinds of little digs at the other. Non-disclosure agreements prevent any of the parties involved from talking about what actually happened behind-the-scenes, but that seems to have only encouraged references to them on social media, in promos… hell, some people’s current gimmicks were born out of the AEW/Punk drama.

Let us know what you make of the whole thing, and the Chicago delegation’s numbers for Raw, in the comments below, Cagesiders.