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WWE legend Booker T has commented that there is no similarity between CM Punk's ongoing controversies in AEW and the end of WCW in 2001.
For those who are unaware, WCW was Vince McMahon's biggest rival back in the late 1990s and used to air on TNT and TBS, just like AEW. The show had famous stars like Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Bret Hart, and many more.
In a recent interview with Wrestling Inc., Booker T opined that the situation in AEW right now and WCW back then was completely different.
“Not at all,” Booker said. “Totally different. Our last days at WCW, you could see the writing on the wall that the plug had been pulled. We were just waiting on the doctors to come tell everybody it’s over, you know what I mean?”
He also said that unlike WCW in 2001, Tony Khan has a lot of scope to make the promotion work.
“Right now, Tony Khan still got a whole lot of money. He’s invested, he’s all in, no pun intended, with this company. And I think he’s going to do everything he possibly can to make this thing work. I wouldn’t even think Tony Khan is going to even start thinking about anything other than making this thing successful. If he gets to that five-year mark and things not working out, he might start thinking then.”
It is a fact that some WCW wrestlers contributed to the downfall of the promotion as they did not want to put the young guys over, which led to chaos in the company. TBS and TNT canceling WCW programming after the AOL (America Online) and Time Warner merger were also major reasons for the shutdown of the brand.
Booker T feels that AEW Star CM Punk's return to WWE will be tough
Discussing the CM Punk situation further, Booker T shared his thoughts on the possibility of the former returning to WWE.
In the same interview with Wrestling Inc., the former world heavyweight champion professed that it would be hard for the AEW star to return to the Stamford-based Promotion because of his own comments.
"CM Punk has definitely been very polarizing as far as comments about WWE ever since he's left. So, I think it would be hard, it would be really hard for him just to swallow his pride and go back to that, that monster, that demon that created a lot of these problems that he thinks he has. I think it would be hard on both sides," said Booker T.
After Punk's recent backstage brawl with Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, he has reportedly been suspended as well as stripped of his AEW World Championship. It remains to be seen what is in store for the 43-year-old in the company.
