More Thoughts on Punk

I was going to reply to something on Reddit talking about AEW fans thoughts on Punk but decided not to. I am curious about a feeling I have that might may or may not be relatable. So lets post here instead of on that website...

So like fuck Punk, obviously. I hate when dipshits get rewarded for being dipships... but at the same time, lets be real, Punk hasn't done even close to as bad as a lot of people in Wrestling. Nothing he did is beyond forgiveness in the least. Hell, it doesn't even require forgiveness. it is a wound that will naturally heal.

... The problem with Punk, as a wrestler who I watch with my eyeballs is different. Punk is always been weird, beyond face or heel. He has a realness to kinda puts most people in one camp or another with him. The type of wrestler who is ALWAYS a face or a heel to certain fans. To me he was always a face. Anti-Authoritarian, rebelling against the status-quo... Punk.

After the Colt Cabana fallout, there was always a bit of a sense that a bit of that realness was put on. Stories about him worshipping grumpy old idols or being a gatekeeper himself. Cranky old man, watching hockey and petting his dog. Nothing wrong with that, but a more normal, flawed person... like you'd reasonably expect.

It was easy to ignore this though. Go with the realness. There was just enough wiggle room to make it make sense. Burnout, disillusionment... But the real Punk is in there somewhere!

The problem with his many failures as a person in AEW wasn't just what it did to the Company. I'm mad about that stuff, but he did good stuff too. The problem -- the problem to which there is little solution to me -- is what it did to him as a character, exposing the fakeness. An entitled, wanna-be boomer. There are tons of them in wrestling, and many are people I'm a fan of... but my engagement with them as an entity doesn't require them to be anything else. Is Punk still Punk when he's not punk? When the Cowboy says "Hey, bro, what the fuck?" while trying to stand up for people who can't speak for themselves... That's... that's kinda Punk's shtick. The man he refused to work with after that was a man who was better at being Punk than Punk.

So now what is Punk to those of us who found that aspect of him the most compelling. He can play an insincere heel? We have those in spades... and to be exposed by who, Seth Rollins? A man without a real bone in his body?

Punk being a bitch in AEW is like the modern version of a territories era wrestler getting beaten up in a bar. A spoiled commodity.

I can forgive Punk, but no matter how great a wrestler he is (and he IS a great wrestler), nothing can make me believe in him again. I can't forget that Santa isn't real. Punk, without his magic, is just okay.