CM Punk’s decision to learn how to wrestle only came after he’d promoted and participated in multiple shows, Ace Steel has revealed.
Steel was the man who trained Punk and the pair have remained friends ever since. Steel was fired from AEW following the All Out 2022 backstage fight, only to be brought back to the company to coincide with Punk’s return from his suspension. After Punk was fired from AEW, Steel was also let go.
Speaking on Wrestling with Rip Rogers, Steel recalled meeting Punk and how their friendship began.
“The long and short is they were backyarders running a promotion in Chicago and he inevitably ended up being a promoter because he was the most responsible of everybody. So his name was on the promoter license for Chicago, Illinois and they would run Outlaw shows if you want to call it that. They were drawing 800 people or so and we’re on the other side of town the legit wrestlers drawing f***ing 200. The real trained wrestlers were like ‘Oh those guys are garbage and they’re backyarders. They’re only filling the crowd with their family’. I’m like ‘800 family is coming to watch this? No, people are enjoying themselves.’
“He came to us to get trained. He walked and said ‘I need to actually [learn]. I really want to do this’. And so we became fast friends we are uh you know I I I enjoy the vices of the world and he has never enjoyed the vices of the world you know uh but we were always fast friends.”
Ace Steel on CM Punk’s Success
From these humble starts, CM Punk has gone on to become one of the most internationally recognized wrestlers in a generation. When asked if he ever saw this level of success for Punk, Steel admitted that he couldn’t have predicted how far his friend would go.
“No [I didn’t see him becoming as big a star as he has.] I don’t think you can because, especially at our level and to think about it back then like I just made the statement that I never thought I’d be in the WWF because I wasn’t big enough. Because it was the land of giants. And he didn’t– his body was pear-shaped at that point but to see him transform and the hard work he went through to transform his body. I remember a day the ring was down, we’re like All right we’re going to take everybody to the gym and show you guys how to work out. Obviously, some of you don’t use weights but he was all about it. ‘Let’s f***ing go!'”
While Steel didn’t predict the success Punk has seen, he acknowledged that the former WWE & AEW World Champion has always been able to make a connection with fans.
“His connection with the crowd though, undeniable. [He’s] always had that, even when he was doing the backyard stuff. That was the thing, he just had that in his head. He knew how to work the people.”
CM Punk will have his first WWE match in close to a decade next week. Click here to find out more.
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