Dax Harwood knew there was something to CM Punk when he saw him get a really decent match out of Viscera in WWE.
Former two-time AEW World Champion CM Punk was the main topic for this episode of FTR with Dax Harwood. When asked if he was a fan of Punk before meeting him, Harwood admitted that he was and spoke about seeing him in WWE because he didn’t really see his Ring of Honor stuff at the time.
“Yeah, I was a fan. I was a fan of his work,” Dax Harwood said. “If you’re a professional wrestler, you have to be. Look at his body of work he’s had. I didn’t see too much of his Ring of Honor stuff. Because at that time, I was traveling around on the independent circuit myself, and getting a hold of some of the Ring of Honor stuff was a little difficult, but watching him in WWE, he had something about him that drew me to him.
“I remember watching a ladder match with him and Jeff Hardy, and he was sitting on top of the ladder after he won the World Heavyweight title and the Undertaker’s bell tolled, and I just remember being so excited because one this angle that he had just had with Jeff Hardy was incredible. I loved it. I loved everything about it. I love the storytelling. I love the matches. I thought they were great. Two polar opposites, I mean the complete polar opposites, and then The Undertaker made his big return, and I was so hyped up to see CM Punk work with The Undertaker.”
Harwood shifted the conversation to a match that CM Punk had with Viscera in WWE and how he got a “really decent” match out of him, and that’s when he started taking notice of Punk at the time.
“I saw him have a match. This is before all that. I saw him have a match with Viscera one time, Big Daddy V. And it was a really decent match,” Dax Harwood admitted. “And I remember thinking, not to slight anybody, but you know Viscera has had some questionable matches and performances, and Punk pulled a really good one out of him, and that’s when I started taking notice.
“But all the stuff he did, like he had a match at, I think, Over The Limit maybe with Daniel Bryan, Bryan Danielson, that was an incredible match. I think he had a series of matches with Bryan that went great. Obviously, his stuff with [John] Cena, his match with Cena from RAW. I think it was February of 2013. I thought that match was so incredible. And then before that, he had the killer match with Brock [Lesnar], and the storytelling and the pacing and the selling of that match, man. It just took my breath away. So yes, I’ve been a fan of his for a while.”
When asked if he believed people in the All Elite Wrestling locker room misunderstood him right away or if it was a situation where people realized he was actually a good dude, Harwood said he thinks it was the latter.
“Yeah, I think a lot of people were like the latter of what you said,” Dax Harwood said. “I think that they saw that he was either a different person than what he used to be or the stories weren’t necessarily true. And you know, I said he was misunderstood. And I do believe he is misunderstood. But maybe he is too understood? Maybe the people understand too much. Because, like I said, he’s just going to fight for what he believes is right, and if he’s wrong about something, then he will go down in flames, and he’ll admit that he’s wrong. But if he thinks he’s right, he’s going to fight for it. So I think that’s admirable some people may not.”
READ MORE: Dax Harwood: Sasha Banks Is The Greatest Women’s Wrestler Of All Time
What do you make of Dax Harwood’s comments? Do you think CM Punk will return to All Elite Wrestling in 2023? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
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