The American news tabloid, New York Post, published their list of the 2023 Pro Wrestling Awards. The list had the spot of Best Debut/Return of the Year. Four major stars had made their return to WWE this year. This includes Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, John Cena, Randy Orton, and CM Punk. Amongst the four, the tabloid declared the Second City Saint‘s return as the best of all four. Excerpts from the article read, “Hell truly did freeze over in one of the rare genuine surprises in wrestling as CM Punk’s music hit to close Survivor Series in Chicago.” 

While the tabloid declared Punk the winner, the return of Dwayne Johnson and many other stars earned its picks as Honorable Mentions. They declared Becky Lynch as the Female Star of the Year. While MJF earned the honor of being the Male Wrestler of the Year. WWE’s Judgment Day was declared as the Faction of the Year. LA Knight bagged the title of the Male Breakout Star of the Year.

However, it is not just the NY Post that feels that way about Punk’s return. As per ESPN’s list, Punk has the Debut of the Year. Again, he pinned Dwayne Johnson effortlessly. The 37-year-old star’s return has had a tremendous impact on the overall ratings. As per reports shared by Triple H, the episode of Raw preceding Survivor Series, saw an enormous increase in viewership.

It was all in the bids to watch what would be CM Punk’s next move at WWE. Apart from that, the social media numbers showed why his return was iconic. The video of Punk’s return on WWE’s YouTube channel was watched over 7 million times in just 3 weeks. Comparing that to The Brahma Bull‘s video on the channel, the video reached the 7 million mark after 3 months.

Now it would be interesting to see whether Punk breaks any more records while he is here. While he has announced himself for the 2024 Royal Rumble, do you think his appearance will break any records at the PLE?