A burst of static. The opening guitar riffs to Living Colour’s anthem “Cult of Personality.” And a crowd of more than 15,000 inside the United Center erupting in building-shaking decibels of cheers.
Those are the sounds that heralded the unveiling of one of professional wrestling’s worst-kept surprises: the long-awaited return to the ring of fan favorite CM Punk. The Chicago wrestling superstar stepped foot inside the “squared circle” of pro wrestling for the first time in more than seven years on Friday for an episode of All Elite Wrestling’s “Rampage” program dubbed “The First Dance,” appropriately filmed in the home of the Chicago Bulls, subject of the 2020 documentary series “The Last Dance.”
Punk quickly fell to his knees on the stage to take in the crowd’s response.
“I was emotional walking out on that stage knowing that, ‘This is fun; I love this again,” he said. “I’ve been a lifelong wrestling fan. Sometimes you fall in and out of love with stuff. If you set something free and it comes back to you, it’s true love.”
Though Punk, who grew up in Homer Glen and graduated in 1996 from Lockport Township High School, was not formally announced for the show, the building was nearly sold out in minutes after AEW teased his “best in the world” slogan right after telling fans “Rampage” was coming to the United Center. AEW president and CEO Tony Khan in the days leading up to the show guaranteed the biggest announcement in the company’s history in Chicago.
“Worst-kept secret, designed that way for a reason. … It’s about the moments and making people go, ‘I can’t miss this show; I don’t know what’s going to happen. This is fun, and I want to be a part of it,'” Punk said following the show.
“I’m jazzed to be here. It really feels like an environment where anything can happen. I love live TV. Let’s have fun.”
Then known as Phil Brooks, Punk grew up in Homer Glen. He never played sports in high school, gravitating more toward art, developing a love for comics and music.
“I wasn’t a jock; I was a skateboard kid,” he said.
Punk, 42, got interested in wrestling after watching the likes of the late World Wresting Federation villain Rowdy Roddy Piper. He started wrestling with the Lunatic Wrestling Federation in a backyard in Mokena, and trained at a Chicago wrestling school. He worked independently from 1999-2005, making a name for himself in Ring of Honor wrestling. He has long followed a “straight edge” lifestyle, swearing off alcohol, drugs and other dependencies, which has played into his wrestling persona in various ways over the years.
He debuted with World Wrestling Entertainment in 2006 and became the hottest thing in sports entertainment after a June 2011 promo in which he publicly shared his personal frustrations with the company, blurring the lines between storyline and reality, with his contract set to expire. At the subsequent pay-per-view, he beat John Cena for the WWE Championship, blowing Vince McMahon a kiss and “leaving” the company, only to return weeks later.
But Punk disappeared from WWE after the 2014 Royal Rumble, later publicly airing his grievances with the company on a podcast. He has not wrestled on television since then.
“When I was sick and tired and hurt and realized that these people wouldn’t care if I died today — there’d be another show tomorrow, I knew that I had to remove myself from the situation,” Punk said. “I didn’t know how long it was going to take for me to heal.”
Punk had two mixed martial arts bouts in Ultimate Fighting Championship, was a commentator for another fighting promotion, and has appeared in movies and television. But he has mostly stayed away from the wrestling world until appearing last week with AEW.
Both in the ring and during the press interviews following “Rampage,” Punk largely ignored the years between when he left Ring of Honor and when he joined AEW.
“I look at it like this: Aug. 13, 2005, I left professional wrestling,” he told the Chicago crowd. “Aug. 20, 2021, I’m back. I’m back because there’s a hell of a lot of young talent I wish I was surrounded by 10 years ago. … I’m back because I want to work with that young talent with the same passion that I had stamped out.
“If at any point during my journey any of my personal decisions related to my life made you feel disappointed or let down, let me just say, I understand if you all try to understand that I was never going to get healthy — physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally — staying in the same place that got me sick in the first place.”
Punk said he and Khan, the AEW president, have been talking for a year and a half about his return to wrestling. He also had to overcome his own skepticism about pro wrestling companies that have sprung up, always promising money and TV time.
He called his delayed return to the mat the result of “me being a paranoid, neurotic, anxiety-ridden, very careful person.”
“I wasn’t in a hurry, and the pandemic kind of helped that,” Punk said. “I knew I couldn’t debut if there were no people in the building. I always say timing is everything, and there were a lot of happy accidents along the way that made this possible.”
His talks with Khan felt “relaxed,” which helped him commit to what he wants to be a positive run in wrestling, he said.
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“It wasn’t about them having to prove anything to me,” Punk said. “It was about me being open to the idea and that it wasn’t going to be ‘I’m just going to jump in the pool right away.’ No, I had to dip my toe in, see how things are going to be. Nobody had to prove anything to me, but I did take a wait-and-see approach. I waited and I saw, and I liked what I saw.
“Credit to everyone in AEW, it reminded me of places I used to work that I loved. It was more about the spirit of the thing. Instead of feeling like a house, it felt like a home. That’s the best way I can possibly describe it.”
Khan was happy to hear Punk felt that way and was excited they were able to create a “really special moment” for fans in Chicago. He hopes it helped AEW make some new fans and bring back some old ones.
“I’m very, very grateful to CM Punk for taking a chance on AEW, coming here and doing this with us,” he said. “It was the most anticipated thing we’ve ever done. People had a really high expectation and got exactly what they wanted to see. It’s pretty cool when you do that for people.”
Punk admitted he was “extremely nervous” before stepping through the curtain last week, which some people find hard to believe. Part of it was that he has not “been on the bike in a minute,” he said. The other part was that the return truly meant something to him.
“Being nervous is an extremely good thing, because I have been a part of moments like that … where I didn’t care at all; I wanted to be anywhere else,” Punk said. “Being nervous meant that I cared.”
Punk said he has not been doing anything particularly different to get ready for his in-ring return but has been staying in shape. He expects to be hitting the ropes before getting in the ring with some younger competitors starting Sept. 5.
“I’ve been working out in my basement, trying to get in better shape to be publicly in my underwear again,” Punk said. “I think in the best way, this is like riding a bike. I want it to be authentic. I don’t want to try to do stuff I never did. I don’t want to try to learn any new tricks. I want people to be like, ‘Oh, he’s still the same dude.'”
Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.