In a surprising turn of events at a recent WWE house show, which marked CM Punk‘s return to in-ring competition for the company, a significant number of fans reportedly left the venue during the intermission immediately following Punk’s match.
Dave Meltzer, in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, shed light on the situation, revealing the impact it had on the overall attendance. According to Meltzer, although the show wasn’t officially sold out, with a capacity set at around 16,300, only 9,000 tickets were distributed before the announcement of the CM Punk vs. Dominik Mysterio match.
Furthermore, live reports from the event indicated that a surprising number of fans chose to leave during the intermission, not staying for the subsequent matches featuring Cody Rhodes vs. Shinsuke Nakamura in a bullrope match and Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre for the world title. Meltzer wrote:
The show actually was not a sellout, as they had made capacity about 16,300. But they only had 9,000 tickets out when the Punk vs. Mysterio match was announced. And live reports were that a surprising amount of fans left at intermission after Punk’s match, not staying for the Cody Rhodes vs. Shinsuke Nakamura bullrope match and Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre world title match.
Did CM Punk Win His WWE Return Match?
CM Punk won his first return match in WWE against Dominik Mysterio. The match took place on December 26th at Madison Square Garden which also saw Finn Balor and Damian Priest retain their WWE Undisputed World Tag Team Championship and Seth Rollins retain his World Heavyweight Title.