Ric Flair is widely-regarded as one of the best talkers in the history of professional wrestling. While his promos weren’t always packed full of hard-hitting content, his natural charisma and delivery made everything that he said sound important and entertaining.
In more recent years, CM Punk has been praised for his promo skills, especially with regard to his ability to blur reality and fiction. His “pipe bomb” while with WWE received acclaim across the board, while his promo battles with MJF in AEW held set the stage for one of the biggest on-screen rivalries in company history.
However, with CM Punk seemingly on his way out of AEW, the question has become, what happens next? As speculation around a contract buy-out gathers pace, it has also been suggested that a door hasn’t been completely closed a WWE return, at least from the perspective of Triple H.
“CM Punk Thought He Was Better Than John Cena” – Ric Flair
Speaking on a recent edition of his podcast To Be The Man, Ric Flair was asked about the possibility of Punk heading back to WWE. The Nature Boy said that anything is possible, although he’s not sure how the star would be received back in the locker room.
“In this day and age I can see anything. I mean that was very heated. I wasn’t there during all that and as I’ve said before, I only know him to say hi, but that lawsuit with the doctor and all that I don’t know that’d be, I don’t know how the guys would handle that. I don’t think he was a candidate for wrestler of the year when he was there. I think he thought he was better than John Cena which is not, absolutely not the truth, as far as being the face of the company.”
Co-host Conrad Thompson then noted that Punk had been very popular during his time with WWE and was known for his ability to cut promos. Flair was then asked about how he would rate Punk’s skills on the microphone. The WWE Hall of Famer said that he would be a B+ if he writes his own material.
“If I knew how he got it together, if I spent more time with him, I could give you a better opinion. If it’s something they’ve handed him to memorise, I don’t give it D plus. If it’s something that he thought up on his own, I give him a B plus. Well, he’s [Punk] a good talker.”
CM Punk hasn’t wrestled since winning the AEW World Championship at All Out. During the bout the star picked up an injury which has required surgery. During the post-show media scrum, Punk was openly critical of some within AEW, with his comments sparking a brawl backstage. For his role in the chaos he was suspended.
If you use any of the quotes from this article credit the original source with a h/t to Inside The Ropes.