CM Punk finally feels like he can reach his full potential in AEW.
During his post-show media scrum at AEW Double Or Nothing, CM Punk was asked about if his title win felt like a full circle moment. Punk said it did a bit, then reflected on his recent comments about feeling like he wasted time in WWE. Punk said that there are no limits in AEW and said that the things he used to get upset about seem silly in hindsight.
“Yeah a little bit. Marc Raimondi interviewed me for ESPN and I said something that I think a lot of people obviously on its face will think is ridiculous. I said I feel like the seven years I was out of the ring, I didn’t feel was wasted. I feel almost that the 10 years that I spent in WWE was wasted because I feel it is management, owner, booker, whoever’s job is to get the most out of all the talent and I feel that I never was, I reached the potential that I could have, given the limitations they constantly put on me. And I feel here, there’s no limitations put on myself or anybody, and sky’s the limit. So I finally feel like I could reach my potential. So that’s what I mean when I say that goddamn, I look back on that time and I’m like what are we doing? To me, you’re always trying to make the most money and put on the best possible show you can. And it felt like ten years of fighting silly battles and standing on my own dick. And I’m not in the business of standing on my own dick. I don’t do that here. I think everybody here can reach their fullest potential.”
Asked who he wants to face in the next few months, Punk reflected on a few names from New Japan that he’d like to work with and said that AEW’s Bryan Danielson is still probably top on his list.
“Well obviously we got Forbidden Door coming up. So to me, focusing on that, I think Okada, Tanahashi, Ospreay, guys like that, I’m looking forward to stepping in the ring with. AEW talent, I always think number one with a bullet is going to be Bryan Danielson. I’ve never wrestled Jon Moxley. I wrestled Dean Ambrose so that’s an interesting matchup. There’s still guys on my list that I’ve never wrestled. There’s Jungle Boy, Ricky Starks. I could probably finish out my career wrestling FTR like every day for the rest of my life and it could be different and fun every single time. Will Hobbs is another guy that I think I has all the potential in the world.
“We’ve got a really stacked roster. It’s almost a crime that we can’t do everybody justice at once, but I think we’re getting there with baby steps. And I think we’re learning. I think we may make mistakes, but instead of dwelling on it or punishing other people or ourselves, I think we move on and try to learn from things. But Bryan Danielson would probably be the first guy that comes to mind. Very selfishly, I’d love to wrestle him again.”
Punk will face Hiroshi Tanahashi at Forbidden Door, as New Japan’s “Ace” answered his challenge on Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite.
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