AEW Rampage: CM Punk debut draws more than 1 million viewers in one night
CM Punk's AEW debut was his comeback to pro-wrestling for the first time since January 2014 and will face Darby Allin at the AEW All Out pay-per-view on Sept 5.
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As wrestling fans around the world looked forward to WWE SummerSlam which took place on Sunday, August 22, former WWE star CM Punk stole the limelight with his appearance at the AEW Rampage. CM Punk AEW debut was his comeback to pro-wrestling for the first time since January 2014. CM Punk will go one-on-one with Darby Allin at the AEW All Out pay-per-view on Sunday, September 5. Allin will have one of the pro wrestling legends Sting in his corner during his highly-anticipated match against Punk.
AEW Rampage Viewership rating rises following CM Punk AEW debut
According to a report in Variety, Nielsen figures shows, AEW Rampage ratings for Friday’s episode was 1.129 million viewers, 692,000 of which were in the adults 18-49 demographic. That represents a 0.53 rating in the key demo, the largest rating for any AEW program since the premiere of “AEW: Dynamite” in October 2019. It was also up 75% in the demo and 53% in total viewers compared to the debut episode of “Rampage” the week prior and was behind only the NFL in the demo on cable that night. For comparison, Friday night’s episode of WWE’s “SmackDown Live” on Fox drew a 0.57 rating and 2.1 million viewers ahead of the company’s “SummerSlam” pay-per-view on Saturday.
I hope that everybody is having a great weekend!!! Especially @CMPunk!!! pic.twitter.com/2FMXOqbpVU
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) August 21, 2021
CM Punk's last match in WWE
CM Punk was last seen in the (World Wrestling Entertainment) ring as an active performer in early 2014. In fact, the 2014 edition of the Royal Rumble turned out to be his final on-screen appearance. He had made his presence in the 30-man Battle Royal but failed to go all the way after being eliminated by Kane. The event was won by the returning Dave Batista who eliminated the then face of the company Daniel Bryan to be the last man standing in the ring.
CM Punk, whose real name is Phillip Jack Brooks, reportedly parted ways with the WWE after Royal Rumble 2014 due to his differences with the company's Chairman Vince McMahon. It is rumoured that Philip Brooks decided to move on after the very first pay-per-view of 2014 because of a disagreement over how he was being utilized and the fact that he was dealing with injuries.