Jim Cornette calls former WWE Champion the "most popular and most unpopular guy" in AEW

Wrestling veteran Jim Cornette recently shared his thoughts on CM Punk's return in AEW, dubbing him the "most popular and most unpopular guy" in the promotion.

Punk's triumphant return to wrestling in Chicago on the debut episode of Collision was met with overwhelming cheers. Yet, in Canada, the reception was mixed, and at the Forbidden Door event in Toronto, things took a turn for the worse.

During an episode of his podcast, The Jim Cornette Experience, Cornette discussed the crowd's reaction to CM Punk and how it reflected his status in AEW.

“And when they hear like Mussolini, they went out of their f*cking minds in both directions. And again now, they’ve ended up where their biggest star is now again, the most popular and most unpopular guy in the company. Because now he gets a more heel reaction than MJF does because while everybody enjoys booing MJF because he is a fabulous heel," Cornette said.

Furthermore, he also acknowledged that Punk's reception in Toronto may have been influenced by the Brawl Out incident with Kenny Omega, who he referred to as "Twinkle Toes."

"The little Buckaroo fans really are booing Punk because they hate him because he beat up their heroes. And the people that love Punk are trying to conversely, out yell and out cheer and out, chant or whatever those ass**les. And Toronto is where [the crowds are louder] but you couldn’t hear the music practically. But also they’re in Toronto and one of the one of the group that Punk turned away with f*cking, you know, their hat in her hand and her d*ck in her hand was Twinkle Toes who’s from Canada and they loved him here. And there’s a lot of soft little Buckaroos in Toronto, apparently.” [H/T - Inside the Ropes]

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Tony Khan talks about CM Punk's mixed fan reactions in AEW

Tony Khan has shared his thoughts on the mixed reception AEW star CM Punk has received from fans since his return to the company.

Speaking on the Busted Open Radio, Khan admitted that he wasn't surprised by the reaction and acknowledged that Punk has handled the booing gracefully.

“I wasn’t surprised about that at all given that we were in Canada and given some of the things that had happened in the lead up to the show and in particular since the last time he wrestled, so I think as we go on the road, we are going to get a lot of great responses, but just like a sports team, it depends on where you’re at. Some sports teams are really popular in home cities, and then when they go on the road, it depends, and definitely I thought this was a road game for him. He did great.”

Punk is scheduled to go head-to-head against Samoa Joe in the Owen Hart Foundation tournament semi-finals on the July 8 edition of AEW Collision.

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