CM Punk says it’ll be sink or swim for talent getting more TV time on AEW Collision.
After months of anticipation, CM Punk will return to AEW on Saturday night to headline the premiere episode of AEW Collision. Ahead of the return, Punk spoke to Marc Raimondi of ESPN about the benefit of AEW adding two hours of television to their slate.
“With more TV time, you’re only going to see guys like [Powerhouse] Hobbs and [Ricky] Starks, people who I think have the potential to do what an MJF has done with his television time but they haven’t been able to be positioned because a guy like MJF gets a big lion share of television time, because he earned it,” Punk said. “We just need to do a better job of spotlighting so many different guys, and this is, for a lot of guys, sink or swim. Now it’s just like, well, now’s the time. You’re going to have to really bust your ass and prove why we’re giving you this spotlight and this TV time.”
Punk also weighed the pros and cons of being a “poster boy” for the new Saturday show.
“If I’m the poster boy — top guy, whatever — this is what people dream about,” Punk said. “You get put in a position like this and, you know, can’t take the negative criticism. Personally, I look at it like a challenge… But as far as ticket sales for a Saturday night compare and contrast, I think it’s a lot easier to move a Saturday night ticket to a live event than it is on a workday, on a Wednesday. So, there’s positives and negatives, you know what I mean? And I don’t look at the negatives as these huge detrimental things.”
Punk will team with FTR to take on Samoa Joe, Jay White, and Juice Robinson on Saturday night. WrestleZone will have complete coverage of Collision as it airs.
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