CM Punk was preparing for a return to professional wrestling long before he had actually decided to make his comeback with All Elite Wrestling.
CM Punk was featured in an in-depth article by ESPN‘s Marc Raimondi about his return to professional wrestling with All Elite Wrestling, which included comments from Punk, Lou D’Angeli (Sign Guy Dudley) and Tony Khan. During the conversation, Punk spoke about how he still didn’t know if and when he would make his return to wrestling, but still peeked through the door by checking into getting ice cream bars made for the potential comeback.
“It was all part of the plan, and I was just getting my ducks in a row,” Punk said. “I just think I knew this was something that was going to happen. In order for it to be perfect, that was a main component — those damn ice cream bars.”
In 2019, Punk reached out to Pretty Cool Ice Cream about making 20,000 ice cream bars, but was short on details for what the event would actually be since he hadn’t actually decided to return yet. Once he finally came to terms with AEW (and speaking with Pretty Cool owner Dana Salls Cree sporadically over two years), he showed up at Pretty Cool in August and paid a deposit for 15,000 bars, joking that once he wrote that check he was “pretty much all in at that point.”
Punk also revealed WWE had reached out to him last year (through a third party) about a possible return there, but he said those talks never went anywhere. He told Raimondi that he did listen to offers, but it felt like familiar territory for him — in a negative way.
“I remember one of the first things I ever said to them was, ‘Above all, don’t play games,’” Punk said. “And they played games. Some things never change. … When you enter a conversation with people you have a past with and you know who they are, how seriously can you take it? I know exactly who they are and they just continue to prove it. I’m trying to be as diplomatic as I possibly can.”
“What I mean is, it’s not all about the money for me,” Punk said. “Because if it was, I would have probably been the main event of WrestleMania this past year. Or I would have been at the Royal Rumble. Everybody is different. Every situation is different. There’s some people that don’t like me, so all they’re going to hear is ‘Oh, he’s just doing it for the money.’ And I could give a sh-t.
“The proof is in the pudding. Does it matter why I’m doing it? Do you really care? If you don’t like me, don’t watch,” Punk stated. “It’s a perfect storm. It’s a lot of everything. It’s the money, it’s the freedom. It’s the creative, and it’s the possibility of working with young, talented people that excite me.”
CM Punk will make his official in-ring return on Sunday, September 5 against Darby Allin at AEW All Out. Pretty Cool will also have more ice cream bars for sale on-site.
