Tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown featured CM Punk and his third appearance for the promotion since returning at Survivor Series. The Second City Savior has a Raw brand contract waiting for him on Monday night, but while he waits, he decided to grace the Tribute To The Troops-themed episode to the troops’ excitement. Among his many comments in his promo tonight, one particular aside about who fans wanted to see him work with caught the attention of many.
“Someone said Kevin Owens,” he said. “That’d be interesting, right? Can I tag with Kevin Owens? Maybe I can fight Kevin Owens. Let’s pump the brakes on that one just for a second. Kevin’s a little bit prickly, and I mean to say, is that him and I are probably too much alike. And I don’t know who would feel comfortable working with somebody who randomly just punches people in the face backstage. I mean, it’s 2023, ladies and gentlemen. You just can’t be doing stuff like that. That’s insane.”
Punk is, of course, alluding to at least one of his backstage altercations in AEW. During his time with the promotion, there were reported altercations between him and The Elite after the AEW All Out 2022 media scrum and before AEW All In earlier this year with Jack Perry.