Coming up on four years after he left, “CM Punk” chants rival “What?” on the annoy-o-meter for a lot of WWE fans - and certainly most WWE performers and officials. In Chicago, the city Punk has always proudly represented in all his endeavors, you know they’re coming though.
In the past, WWE’s had a plan ready to deal with them. That may have been the case on Dec. 25, 2017, too, but if what we got were prepared zingers, they were seemed more good-natured than in the past.
Take Hideo Itami’s pre-show Twitter taunt:
Can’t wait to show “MY” Go 2 sleep to CHICAGO.#ShowMeRespect
— Hideo Itami / 伊丹英雄 (@HideoItami) December 25, 2017
Itami (fka as KENTA) did create the GTS, and he’s currently playing an edgier character, so this barely even qualifies as a shot.
Then there’s the manner in which Elias and John Cena handled things during Raw’s opening segment:
Elias actually name-dropped CM Punk #RAW pic.twitter.com/WV8XiMgrzJ
— Nick Piccone (@nickpiccone) December 26, 2017
John Cena goes to Chicago, achieves peace with Punk fans.
— TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) December 26, 2017
War is over if you want it. pic.twitter.com/WOtNBitvAu
The Drifter’s comment is a little bit of a slam, but he’s as true a heel as Raw has. Cena straight-up takes up for the man who famously beat him for the WWE title at Allstate Arena and slid out into the Illinois night back in 2011.
Aside from inspiring the ubiquitous “CM Punk return imminent” jokes, this almost certainly doesn’t mean anything. WWE probably just decided to place nice for the holiday and not $#!+ on the hometown hero.
Merry Christmas, Punk! Of course, the self-professed “sociopathic straight edge atheist sweetheart with no Facebook account”, probably doesn’t even care, but it’s nice for his fans, I suppose.
We’ll see how WWE plays it on Dec. 26 when SmackDown and 205 Live take place in the same arena.