John Cena arrived for his WWE Universal Championship match with Roman Reigns at SummerSlam on Saturday sporting new gear, calling back to the classic box cover art for Super Mario Bros. 3. But fans watching at home were quick to recognize the design was almost identical to a CM Punk shirt available on Pro Wrestling Tees, using the same color and cartoon design. Obviously, both are tributes to the classic Mario design, but fans got a good laugh out of the coincidence given Punk just returned to pro wrestling via AEW Rampage on Friday night.
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Punk talked about his decision to leave WWE in his first promo in an All Elite Wrestling ring. He explained, “The most important thing I’m going to say, this is for everybody at home, this is for everybody who bought a ticket, this is for everybody in the back. If at all through my journey my personal choices or decisions related to my life made you feel disappointed or let down, let me just say I understand. If you all try to understand that I was never going to get healthy physically, mentally, spiritually or emotionally staying in the same place that got me sick in the first place.”
Well thatโs one way to reference CM Punk returning. #UniversalTitle #SummerSlam pic.twitter.com/rzTxVxWjTO
โ Michael A. Wiseman (@therealwiseman) August 22, 2021
He then discussed why he chose to finally sign with AEW in a post-show conference call โ “I’ll go ahead and spoil that, I’ve been talking to Tony for probably a year and a half. Some girls are easier to get into bed, I am not. I need to be wined and dined. And that’s not, ‘oh I need more money and less dates.’ It was literally just talking to Tony, getting to know him. The more people that he employed that I knew, I’d ask questions, they’d tell me things. I’ve been in the game for a few minutes, so I’ve (promoters before).
“I’ve seen, I think I’ve tracked it since the downfall of ECW, every six months to a year somebody pops up (saying), ‘I have money, we’re going to have TV, we’re going to use all the ECW guys,’” he continued. “This is not a slight on Tony at all, it’s more of a slight on me being a paranoid, neurotic, anxiety-ridden, very careful person.”
The next @JohnCena NFT drop is live RIGHT NOW on https://t.co/6vCaEYoL9I! @bitski pic.twitter.com/XGCQ0aWnCo
โ WWE (@WWE) August 22, 2021