With a full calendar year having passed since CM Punk's WWE return at Survivor Series 2023, critiques of the controversial star's first year have started. Despite only having a handful of matches, the biggest compliment of Punk has been his behavior and attitude, being more upbeat than the person people remember from his first WWE run and drama-stricken AEW tenure. "Busted Open Radio" host Bully Ray gave his thoughts on Punk, looking back on his reported behavior in AEW compared to now.

"There were times in WWE where Punk, perception-wise, was the problem. There were times in AEW where perception-wise, and maybe even reality-wise, where Punk was the problem," Ray commented. "But now that I see him in WWE for this past year and how well everything is going personally for him, backstage, professionally for him in the ring... what really was the problem in AEW?"

The WWE Hall of Famer elaborated on his question asking if AEW has a problem with its culture, locker room having a lack of leadership, or if Punk was just a big fish in a small pond. Punk went in to AEW stating that he wanted to help younger talent and put a spotlight on them but recently downplayed some of the matches he was involved in.

"One of the lessons I had to learn within the WWE about picking my battles and which hill to die on because much like Punk — I don't know if 'punk' is the right word to describe Punk. When I think of the word 'punk' I think of the word 'b**ch,' I think 'rebel' is more of a word; a rebellious attitude — and I understood what that was like and I had to learn how to pick my battles."