WWE Hall of Famer Criticizes CM Punk’s Monday Night Raw Return Promo

CM Punk’s sincerity is in question. The Second City Saint made his return to WWE last month, shocking the Allstate Arena when “Cult of Personality” dropped seconds before WWE Survivor Series was set to go off the air. Punk followed up his post credits-esque comeback by breaking his silence two days later on WWE Monday Night Raw, addressing the WWE universe for the first time in nearly a decade. Punk’s promo received mixed reactions for fans and critics alike, as some heard his “I’m home” declaration as phony while others believe it was deliberately hollow. Whatever the case may be, one WWE Hall of Famer saw the whole segment as fairly fabricated.

Kevin Nash Responds to CM Punk’s “Contrived” Promo

Big Daddy Cool is not rocking with this new Straight Edge Superstar.

Speaking on his Kliq This podcast, Kevin Nash described CM Punk’s return promo on WWE Monday Night Raw as being “not him.”

“I thought the glad-handing on the way to the ring was not him,” Nash said. “For somebody that was so ‘pipe bomb,’ it felt very contrived.”

Nash worked with the real-life Phil Brooks briefly at the tail end of his famous “Summer of Punk” in 2011. The former NWO big man cost Punk the WWE Championship at WWE SummerSlam 2011, laying the groundwork for a singles feud between the two that was expected to stretch into the fall. Nash vs. Punk was scheduled to go down the following month at WWE Night of Champions but ultimately fell through due to Nash having health issues. He would still end up wrestling later that year, working a series of live events before having one WWE pay-per-view match against Triple H.

While they never faced off in the ring, Nash and Punk traded many verbal barbs on WWE TV, most of which included Punk cutting deep and personal. With that in mind, Nash has doubts about the legitimacy behind Punk’s most recent WWE promo.

“At the end, it was like, ‘Oh s–t, I better slip this in so I have some credibility,” Nash continued. “[When he said] ‘I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to make money.’ I’ve heard that before.”

Punk’s next scheduled WWE appearance is this Friday, the December 8th edition of WWE SmackDown, airing at 8 PM ET on FOX.