Is TNA The Best Home For CM Punk?

CM Punk could be a perfect in TNA Wrestling.

CM Punk is anti-establishment.

That isn’t a storyline or a gimmick. It is reality, and it is one of the reasons Punk has been able to connect so intimately and genuinely with wrestling fans throughout the course of his career.

Courtesy AEW

When speaking with Sports Illustrated earlier this summer, Punk shared the origin of his roots in pro wrestling:

“When I’d just started wrestling [in 1999], one of the first places I found steady work was Mid American Wrestling run by Carmine DeSpirito, and we ran a Knights of Columbus Hall in West Ellis, Wisconsin once a month. I think the appeal for the fans there was really cheap beer. I was this straight edge kid that didn’t fit in anywhere, except for with the freaks and geeks in a pro wrestling locker room.

“I had not done this straight edge gimmick yet. I was racking my brain to come up with a great idea, and I remember my girlfriend at the time, Natalie Slater, who is still to this day a great friend of mine, pointed out the pot of gold was right under my nose. She was like, ‘Why don’t you just be you? Why don’t you just be straight edge?’ All credit to her. That’s where it was born.

“That’s why I tape my wrists, that’s why I X-up my hands, and that’s where ‘Straight edge means I’m better than you’ comes from. Looking back on it now, there’s a lot of people I currently work with who are not only wrestlers because of me–their words–they’re straight edge because of me. It’s time to go back to that. Look how powerful it is. That’s a nice itch I get to scratch now.”

Punk was never a prototypical wrestling star. He reached the top of the industry in his very own distinct manner. And, to his credit, he is not about to change.

Despite all the enticing possibilities, Punk simply does not fit in WWE. Can you ever imagine Punk wrestling at a Crown Jewel show in Saudi Arabia? It’s so farfetched that it is difficult to envision. In the overly scripted world of WWE, Punk feels more like a liability for the company than an asset.

That would be altogether different, however, in TNA.

Punk also has connections to the promotion, wrestling there from 2002-2004. Plenty of changes would need to be made in order to accommodate a star presence like Punk, particularly with an occasional live showing of the weekly Impact! television show, but Punk in TNA has the potential to be a great fit. Punk’s run in TNA would stand as a real alternative to WWE and AEW, and it would allow him to reshape a wrestling promotion, which he did during his brief stint in AEW.

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Just last week, Scott D’Amore, the president of TNA Wrestling, spoke about the possibility of signing Punk.

“Would we look at exploring CM Punk as part of TNA?” said D’Amore. “We’d be crazy to say no. CM Punk is certainly a polarizing figure in pro wrestling, but he’s also someone who has consistently been a difference-maker. It’s no secret CM Punk was backstage the day after Bound for Glory, and he’s always more than welcome to be here. And that’s not unheard of–earlier this year, when he was with AEW, Punk reached out and asked if he could come by and hang out. He’s fantastic to have backstage, and someone with his knowledge, that holds intangible benefits. He’s always welcome. What that means for the future, we’ll see.”

Would TNA yield a degree of creative influence to Punk? And would the company actually back up its claims of legitimacy by signing Punk to a lucrative contract?

Punk still has a tremendous amount to offer. If TNA is serious, signing Punk would help reshape the industry.

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Happy Stranger Things Day

Today is Stranger Things Day, which marks the date–November 6–when Will Byers went missing in the original season.

Since everything connects to pro wrestling, the occasion made me think: does pro wrestling have its own version of Vecna?

Courtesy WWE

In terms of versatile villains with a gripping backstory, it feels like Finn Balor could convincingly play that role. So I asked Cody Rhodes, who is engaged in a lengthy feud with Balor’s Judgment Day, if Balor is the best choice in WWE to play Vecna.

“Ask Brandi,” said Rhodes, deferring to his wife. “I’m far behind on Stranger Things.”

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The Rhodes family recently took a trip to Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights, which features plenty of Stranger Things imagery from its fourth season. That includes a trip inside the Creel house, as well as a lot of the horror surrounding Eddie Munson and the demobats.

“We did the maze at Halloween Horror Nights,” said Rhodes. “And I was confused as it gets.”

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Solo Sikoa Defeats John Cena At Crown Jewel

John Cena lost to Solo Sikoa at Crown Jewel.

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Not only did he lose, but Cena lost cleanly. It was an impressive way to highlight Sikoa, an emerging star in WWE, and it adds another layer to The Bloodline story. Roman Reigns has run into repeated headaches from Jimmy and Jey Uso, but Sikoa is the one who was silenced Cena, a perpetual thorn in his side.

It appears that Cena is finished with WWE for now. His unexpected return, which was a byproduct of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike in Hollywood, turned out to be a lot of fun.

Cena is expected to return at WrestleMania 40 in some capacity. Whether that means he will wrestle in a match is unconfirmed, especially if he is engaged in a new film.