CM Punk Does Not Believe There Are Casual Pro Wrestling Fans Anymore
During the AEW Full Gear Post Show Media Scrum, CM Punk spoke about his match with Eddie Kingston at Full Gear, where he teased a five knuckle shuffle, and spoke about the build to the feud that made the audience relate to their situation. The Best in the World said they wanted the fans to get engaged in the story and pick a side on an issue that's very relatable.
"Pro wrestling man, it's kind of ironic because we're characters but we're not, we're real people," Punk said. "What you see from me is what you get, what you see you get from Eddie. I hate pulling the curtain back so to speak but I used to watch professional wrestling all the time and two dudes can get in arguments and then they can fight about it. It doesn't really have to be deeper than that and if you can get people to relate to that stuff, if you can get people to relate to 'oh man, I was at a job one time and maybe I didn't apply myself 100% of the time and there's that guy in the office that always called me out on it, screw that guy'. Everybody can take a side when you put me and Eddie in the ring. I don't care what side you take, you're going to take a side and there's going to be some situation in your life and past and experiences that as you watch that television, you're engaged. That's the whole point, Jerry Lawler used to do it all the damn time."
AEW President Tony Khan spoke about the Eddie Kingston and CM Punk match, comparing the crowd reaction to WrestleMania 18's Hulk Hogan and The Rock where fans turned on Rock during the match in favour of Hogan. Khan referred to that night in Toronto and mentioned how he was in the arena that night and felt like the only person cheering for The Rock even though he was a babyface.
CM Punk continued to speak about his time in AEW and whether or not anything has been a surprise to him. The former WWE Champion mentioned how the company gives fans a variety of things and believes that everyone who loves pro wrestling can find something to love about it.
"I don't know if anything was a big surprise," Punk said. "Except just maybe how consistent we are. I have opinions just like the fans do, not everybody is going to love me or what I do. I don't necessarily have to like everything on the TV show but that's the whole point is we're not giving you one thing for two hours or three hours, we're giving you a variety of things. I think everybody who loves pro wrestling can find something you love about the show. I don't even really think it's surprising, it's just a breath of fresh air, it's different, it's rad and it's one of the reasons I was drawn to this place and why I wanted to be here, one of the reasons I'm here."
Punk also spoke about the amount of fans he's brought in from WWE and what he recognizes most in the AEW fans. The Best in the World said he's wrestling in front of fans he used to before he got to WWE and those people are wrestling fans.
"I definitely think there's overlap," Punk said. "I don't know if everybody who was a WWE fan came over here specifically just to watch me but what I recognize in front of an AEW audience is an audience that I used to wrestle in front of prior to coming to the WWE. They're wrestling fans yanno and I will never understand the criticism of appealing to your fan base. If this is our fan base, give them what they want and everybody's happy. Now I understand building a business, people talk about trying to get casuals here, I don't think there's casual wrestling fans anymore. My opinion, maybe I'm wrong and maybe somebody at TNT is going to get mad because I'm saying this and am of this opinion but our fans are wrestling fans and we give them wrestling."