The next wrestler to be inducted into the Ring of Honor 2022 Hall of Fame is AEW sensation CM Punk. He is the final member of the inaugural class, joining the Briscoes, Bryan Danielson, and Samoa Joe. ROH made the announcement on Twitter with a graphic displaying CM Punk’s time in the federation. After a stint in WWE, Punk retired from pro wrestling for seven years, only recently making a return to the ring at AEW’s Friday, August 20th edition of Rampage. Ring of Honor is currently on hiatus following December’s Final Battle pay-per-view, with the company releasing all wrestlers from their contracts. ROH is planning for a return in April.
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“Ring of Honor is proud to welcome CM Punk, one of the most charismatic and compelling performers in ROH history, into the ROH Hall of Fame,” a statement from the Ring of Honor Twitter account reads. A recap of CM Punk’s time in ROH is also provided, detailing his many accomplishments and world title moments.
“Punk had many memorable moments in ROH, including the iconic ‘Summer of Punk,’ which began when he won the ROH World Championship in June 2005 right after accepting a deal with WWE,” ROH said. “Throughout the summer, Punk taunted ROH fans by repeatedly threatening to take the ROH World Title with him to WWE. He lost the title that August.”
His history with Samoa Joe is also discussed. Punk and then-ROH World Champion Samoa Joe had a trilogy of matches in 2004, where they wrestled to two 60-minute draws before Joe prevailed in their final meeting. Along with being an ROH World Champion, CM Punk is also a two-time ROH World Tag Team Champion as a member of The Second City Saints.
CM Punk’s WWE career included epic matches against Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, John Cena, and Brock Lesnar, and held the WWE title for 434 days, the sixth-longest in the company’s history.
A CM Punk career retrospective will air on this weekend’s episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling television, and a YouTube special debuts Monday, Feb. 28th at 9 a.m. ET on ROH’s YouTube channel. The ROH Hall of Fame episode airs the weekend of March 5th.
CM Punk is slated for a rematch with MJF at AEW Revolution. After losing to MJF, Punk was able to secure a rematch with MJF in what will be a dog collar match.
