CM Punk’s TKO Bashing on Raw Mirrored Backstage Frustration With Overly Priced WWE Tickets

CM Punk gave a scathing reality check to TKO over why WWE tickets are struggling to move, especially for WrestleMania 42.

CM Punk’s TKO Bashing on Raw Mirrored Backstage Frustration With Overly Priced WWE Tickets

CM Punk on this week's Raw after his fiery rant [via- WWE]

In Short
  • CM Punk's recent promo on Raw reflected backstage frustrations among WWE talent regarding ticket pricing.
  • WWE is reportedly considering lowering ticket prices after backlash over high costs for WrestleMania 42.
  • Punk's comments during the promo were unscripted and aimed at addressing issues affecting both fans and wrestlers.

CM Punk walked out on this week’s Raw like a man possessed with getting everything off his chest. Even though he spent the major chunk of his opening promo on the show trashing his WrestleMania 42 opponent, Roman Reigns, the Best in the World’s ranting about TKO and its foolish-enough agent of Pat McAfee, which is Ari Emanuel, is what’s been making the rounds on the internet.

It felt in real-time that Punk was shooting, which, in wrestling jargon, means speaking off the cuff. And guess what? That’s indeed what it was. As per Mike Johnson of PWInsider, the World Heavyweight Champion’s comments mirrored the backstage frustration among WWE talent that was building up for quite a few weeks.

Several on the company’s active roster had expressed their gripes with the ticket pricing of WWE shows, which is bloated to a level where several thousand seats are still not sold out for the company’s biggest show of the year—WrestleMania. Also, with the new policy in effect under TKO, only a couple of comp tickets are handed out to stars for the night they’re wrestling on despite a bunch of those remaining.

BodySlam later backed up the aforementioned reporting by stating in its version of the story that CM Punk did receive some bullet points to speak on in his promo on Raw, but he wasn’t handed any sort of a script to strictly adhere to.

Moreover, the ‘Second City Saint’ reportedly used his airtime to double down on Cody Rhodes‘segment from last week’s SmackDown. ‘The American Nightmare’ was given the green light from members of the WWE creative team to shoot from his hip regarding Pat McAfee and TKO.

If it wasn’t obvious already, there seems to be a cold war going on between WWE and TKO, with the latter’s brass constantly passing down edicts to alter the current course of storylines as per their vision. Take, for instance, the unsolicited infusion of Pat McAfee into a dream feud like that of Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, stirring angst among various talent backstage.

WWE and TKO cognizant of fan backlash over ticket prices amid CM Punk’s Raw promo noise

While the ticket prices for WWE shows almost doubled since after the company came under the TKO umbrella, it didn’t rear its ugly head until it came to light that this year’s WrestleMania had been selling poorly. It acted like the last straw, and CM Punk implicitly unloading on TKO CEO Ari Emanuel by asking him to lower the ticket prices was a bit that no one expected to make the cut on WWE programming.

CM Punk on Raw with the WrestleMania sign in the backdrop
CM Punk on Raw with the WrestleMania sign in the backdrop [via- WWE]

But the fact that it did implies that those backstage were longing to address the elephant in the room. A report from BodySlam stated that WWE and TKO have been well aware of the fan backlash pertaining to the astronomical ticket price points for WrestleMania 42.

It also noted that several top stars in WWE have been pushing for the company to slash the ticket prices and lower them down to a level that doesn’t price out the diehard wrestling fans from attending their shows and enjoying the product. One could easily guess that the likes of CM Punk and Cody Rhodes would’ve definitely voiced their displeasure with the current ticket prices for the WWE shows in general and not only WrestleMania.

During a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, both Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer also echoed the sentiment of WWE reportedly looking to lower its ticket prices through the summer after that CM Punk promo. It would be interesting to see how long it takes for WWE to make its events affordable once again. This might take a while with TKO clearly influencing that aspect of the business.

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