The Wrestling Observer Newsletter welcomed seven new inductees into their Hall of Fame, but CM Punk was a shock name to miss out on the fan-voted Hall of Fame in 2023. Punk was up for induction this year, but narrowly missed out on the vote after a tumultuous year in the business.
Getting just 44% of the votes out of the 60% needed (as voted for by Wrestling Observer subscribers), Punk missed out narrowly in joining the Briscoes and Sgt Slaughter in the Hall of Fame. While his career clearly warrants a place in the Hall of Fame, fans are still burnt by his actions at the end of his run in AEW.
Check out the 2023 Hall of Fame inductees.
As a multi-time World Champion in WWE and AEW (including holding the WWE Championship for 434 days), he was an innovative wrestler who blazed the trail for indie stars, like Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens, to make a name for themselves in the WWE. Not only did he do that, but he became one of the most popular wrestlers of all time, outselling John Cena in merchandise for the first time since Jeff Hardy in 2009.
CM Punk was recently fired by AEW for attacking Jack Perry and Tony Khan at Wembley Stadium, shortly before defeating Samoa Joe at AEW All In. You can click this link to read about what happened to CM Punk in AEW.
Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson, also known as two-time AEW Tag Team Champions “The Young Bucks”, were also rejected from entering the Hall of Fame. Despite being one of the most popular and innovative tag teams of all time, and having a huge hand in creating AEW and the indie wrestling boom, they were only voted into the WON Hall of Fame by 55% of the voting public.