CM Punk’s first match in AEW will be against one of those young stars when he takes on Darby Allin at All Out on September 5. While speaking with Kap & J. Hood on ESPN Chicago, Punk talked about how he was preparing for the match and the questions of how he will do in the ring after a seven year layoff.
“I think it’s a lot of ‘can Punk still go?’ Can Punk still wrestle in the ring? ‘Can he be entertaining?’” Punk said. “Fortunately for me, I was never a guy that did a whole bunch of crazy flips and stuff like that. So I don’t have to go back and try to do these amazing athletic feats. My goal is to tell a story. And the way I get ready for this is to watch a lot of Darby Allin matches. It’s no different than a sports team watching tape on the team that they’re playing.
“I watch him, I see what he can do, and then I get to get creative about it. And that’s how I get ready. Obviously, I’m in a television show that’s called Heels that’s on the Starz network too. I’ve been in the ring. We’re filming wrestling. I have gotten in the ring and I have been training but not super extensively because it beats your body up, so I’m trying to be smart about it. But mostly just watching tape on him and I’m impressed by what I see.”
