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CM Punk's WWE debut in Philadelphia was certainly a memorable one.
Ahead of tonight's episode of AEW Dynamite, CM Punk sat down with Matt Breen of The Philadelphia Inquirer to talk about his professional wrestling career and his return to Philadelphia with All Elite Wrestling.
When asked about his amazing crowd reaction at WWE Survivor Series 2006, he revealed people backstage were mad about it because he was more over with the crowd than Triple H and other big names he was sharing the ring with that night.
"That kind of backfired on me at that point in Philly because that wasn’t the case. That’s not what happened," CM Punk revealed. "People were mad because ‘We don’t understand. Why’s this kid over?’ Then they’ll use the crutch of ‘Oh, it’s just internet fans.’ Yeah, OK, 18,000 people packed the place and they’re all just internet fans but whatever. It means something to me now because it was validation. Like ‘Yeah. My hard work is paying off. Yeah. People are seeing me and the things that I’m doing and people like me. Let’s go.’ Now I’m in a spot where if that happens, it’s embraced. It’s not picked apart and told why 18,000 screaming people are wrong."
CM Punk says the fan reaction of the 2006 Survivor Series still means something to him
The reaction CM Punk received from the WWE Universe in Philadelphia that night still means something to him 15 years later. Punk believes the reaction was his validation that he's good at what he does.
"Not only did it mean something to me then, it means something to me now. That’s just validation that you’re good at what you do," CM Punk said. "A lot of times in this business, it won’t make sense to the people in charge what catches fire. But if the people in charge are smart and have a brain in their head, they’ll recognize it and just go ‘Alright, this is what the fans want, we’re just going to give it to them.’"
You can catch CM Punk on the second anniversary of AEW Dynamite tonight on TNT.
Do you remember CM Punk's match at the 2006 Survivor Series? Did you think he was going to be as big as he is now? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
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