After months of rumors and reports, CM Punk finally stepped back into an AEW ring during tonight's AEW Collision premiere. Before Punk joined up with FTR to take on Samoa Joe and Bullet Club Gold though, he delivered a fiery promo to start Collision with a bang, and as he stated numerous times, he was done being nice. Punk addressed his haters and those who feel like they are owed an apology, and then even teased that he's holding onto his AEW World Title until someone pins him for it. While there are certainly those who aren't Punk fans and disliked his promo, the majority of responses seemed to love it. Then when he got in the ring later in the night with Samoa Joe, those fans absolutely lost it, and you can find more reactions on the next slide.
During Punk's promo, he thanked the fans for embracing him and then addressed a few things he had been wanting to get off his chest. While Punk said sometimes it's better to be the bigger man, he wasn't offering any apologies and took a few shots at those who might be hoping for one. Fans definitely took notice.
"The king is back baby, and I do have a lot of things to get off my chest. I got a question Chicago. Why would I change? This is what I was trained for. I will always speak truth to power. I will always be myself. I will never compromise. And there's the people that think they are owed an apology. I've grown older and wiser in my years. Sometimes it's better to be the bigger man. If you feel, you are here today and I owe you an apology, I am sorry that the only people softer than you are the wrestlers you like," Punk said.
"And there are those of you who were praying to whatever God you believe in to put these (his boots) down in the ring and ride off into the sunset to never be seen again, but until there is somebody in this company that can fill these boots, they belong on my feet," Punk said. "Tell me when I'm telling lies!"
The show's main event would be Punk reuniting with his friends FTR in a match against Samoa Joe, Switchblade Jay White, and Juice Robinson. Fans were all in from the beginning, but when Punk and Joe were the active men for their teams, the place became unglued. Both stars hadn't been in a ring together in quite some time, and fans were happy to see them lock up once again.
You can find more reactions on the next slide, and let us know in the comments what you've thought of Punk's AEW return on Collision, or as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!