WWE Hall Of Famer Comments On CM Punk Following AEW Departure

AEW

A WWE Hall of Famer has commented on CM Punk following his AEW departure.

Despite coming from two different generations and never facing in a singles match, CM Punk and Ricky Steamboat have shared the squared circle on a number of occasions.

From their rivalry in Ring of Honor to their recent interactions in All Elite Wrestling, Punk and Steamboat have expressed their mutual respect for one another numerous times.

In an interview with Sportskeeda’s Bill Apter, Steamboat discussed how he was impressed with Punk ever since their first time meeting each other. He said:

“He (CM Punk) was working for… yeah I am sorry, it was Ring of Honor. And they brought me in to be a special guest referee and he was working with Samoa Joe…”

“I’m gonna say 12 – 15 years ago. And they brought me in as a special guest referee for the match… the main event match and they were going to do an hour Broadway.”

“So I was the third guy in the ring and I was there and I listened to CM Punk lead the whole match for the whole hour.”

“That told me right there that this kid’s got it. The psychology part, you know, what to do? When to do it? Why you do it at this time? And why you do it in the beginning and not at the end?”

“So forth and so on. I mean, he had all the nuts and bolts connected and that impressed me,”

Explaining how he played a part in Punk getting signed to WWE, Steamboat said:

“At that time I went to John Lauranitis through talent development and said, ‘you need to take a look at CM Punk and get him up here for an audition.’ And John said, ‘oh we’ve had him up here a couple of times.’”

“And I said, ‘well what’d you do?’ and he said, ‘we put him up in the ring with one of our regulars for about five minutes, you know, didn’t see much.’”

“I said, ‘well, I was in a match. A referee for he went through an hour of Broadway and he called the whole match and this kid has the ‘I got it.’ He’s got the ’IT’ thing…”

“I think you should take another look and maybe put him in with one of our better topper guys. And let him do a 15 or 20-minute audition instead of a three to five-minute quickie, in and out.’ And so they got him up and he got in the ring and then got hired.” 

Ricky Steamboat was the special guest referee for CM Punk’s Real World Championship defense against Ricky Starks on an episode of AEW Collision in July.

Punk has since been released from his AEW contract following a backstage incident at AEW All In London.

Transcription via WrestleZone

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• departure
• Ricky Steamboat
• cm punk
• AEW

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