CM Punk still thinks Hulk Hogan is ‘a piece of ****’

CM Punk was ahead of the curve when it came to moving on from Hulk Hogan.

Even before Hogan’s racist tirade went public in 2016, Punk didn’t hesitate to let it be known that he wasn’t a Hulkamaniac. What would have otherwise been friendly banter about the ‘15 Stanley Cup Finals between the Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lighting got hot when the Second City Saint called the Hulkster a bandwagon jumper... and “a piece of garbage”.

Once more people were shedding their red-and-yellow after the Gawker trial, Punk was even more forthcoming with his thoughts, delivering the very good put down, “No, I wasn’t a Hogan guy. I’ve met him, and like him even less now” before closing with “**** him.”

Ahead of AEW’s big week in New York City, the Hulkster came up again when Punk was talking to Barstool’s Brandon Walker on his Rasslin’ podcast. During a conversation about his role in AEW, and the notion a lot of big stars of the past have had about protecting their spot in a company, Punk said:

“You throwing me - throwing my name in the hat with somebody like Steve Austin, who arguably, the biggest star our business has ever seen... A lot of this is subjective though, right? You can make the argument like, ‘Oh no. A Hulk Hogan’s a bigger star than Steve Austin. But then you look at business periods, and eras, and box office receipts, and like all that other stuff. I think Hogan’s a piece of shit, so obviously I’m gonna be like ‘Steve Austin, yay.’ [laughs] That’s another podcast.”

A tweet with that clip drew the ire of a Hogan fan (and as someone who’s been critical of HH on the internet for years, let me assure that that’s not hard to do), and prompted a response from Punk that mocks Hulk’s tendency to, let’s call it exaggerate his own legend. The Best in the World also put over AEW’s shows this week, natch.

It’s worth remembering that there’s no way this builds to any on-screen angle, at least not while Punk works for AEW. Tony Khan banned Hogan - and his ex - from the company.