At All Out 2021, CM Punk returned to the wrestling ring for the first time in 7 years, Bryan Danielson debuted for AEW, Adam Cole re-joined his former Elite stablemates, and Ruby Soho debuted and earned a title shot. At the post-event media scrum, Punk was asked about the new additions to the AEW roster and how they stack up against the names WCW brought in during the mid to late 90s.
“I’m not Hogan, I’m not Savage. Daniel Bryan and Adam Cole are not the Outsiders,” Punk responded. “I see the parallels. This is totally different and I’ll go ahead and say it, people can quote me and they’ll be pissed off about it, to me, this is bigger.”
Earlier in the discussion, Punk said that he feels the new AEW additions will have a big impact. He’s not worried about competing with other companies, however. It’s about AEW focussing on their talent and audience.
“Obviously, I think it’s going to be very impactful,” Punk said. “I’m not personally in the business of a war or competing. I know who competition is and who competition isn’t. To me, we focus on ourselves. We focus on the talent we have and we focus on the people in the building and I think that’s how we grow.”
Punk’s comments can be heard in the video below: