WWE Chicago Fans: It’s Time to Move on from CM Punk

It’s time for WWE fans in Chicago to move on when it comes to their chants for CM Punk.

I would like to begin this open letter by making it known I grew up in the state of Illinois and consider where I was raised and the people there being my kind of people. However, it has to be stated in how the fans from Chicago during the Payback event last night acted – childish.

It’s one thing to be vocal and help enhance the product that WWE puts out, but there has to be a point. The chants for CM Punk are not necessary and really don’t do anything but make Chicago looks like a city that is still bitter about their wrestling star leaving on bad terms. The funny thing is that CM Punk was the one who left the WWE months before WrestleMania 30 and was very vocal about why he left.

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Years later, fans from Chicago want to continue chanting his name during WWE shows as a way of sticking it to the McMahons and those that run WWE. It’s very doubtful they care and Vince McMahon trying to rile up the crowd supports that belief. CM Punk was very popular and had quite the successful run in the company – especially after the WWE’s version of the “Summer of Punk” in 2011.

But it’s gone and the company was able to move on, like they would whenever anyone leaves the WWE; and that’s what CM Punk even stated would happen in his infamous “pipe bomb” promo – he was just another spoke on the wheel of a multi-million dollar sports entertainment corporation. He wasn’t happy and he left; much like many of us would like to do when we aren’t happy with our jobs.

The only difference is that CM Punk was financially able to retire from professional wrestling when he did and honestly, that should be respected. However, he left on his own terms. This wasn’t a situation where the WWE released someone under controversial circumstances like Matt Hardy in 2005 after the whole love triangle between him, Lita and Edge.

Wrestling fans in Chicago have shown they don’t want to move on; like angry fans of the Chicago Cubs who still held a grudge over Steve Bartman was blamed for interfering with a pop-up during Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against the Florida Marlins.

Sure, there are some fans who might argue that the WWE dropped the ball with letting CM Punk walk out the door. But in his final year with the company, CM Punk was becoming more of a problem in the locker room and, like any professional sports team would do, they let them walk.

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Since his departure from WWE, CM Punk has obviously moved on towards the world of mixed martial arts. He doesn’t hold any grudges now like he did when he left. The problem is that the wrestling fans in Chicago haven’t moved on, which is not making fans who consider themselves smarter than the average fan fall under a good light.

You’re better than this, Chicago. You are a city that is passionate about sports and wrestling – even down to the independent companies having helped develop guys like CM Punk and even Seth Rollins (I remember the shows in the Berwyn Eagles Club with All-American Wrestling). There will be a new star to come from Chicago to make an impact in WWE. It’s okay to move on – we’ve all had to do it when many of our favorite childhood icons wrestled their last match.

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So stop trying to hijack the shows with what you think is a protest of WWE. You bought a ticket, so you are just fueling the machine you seem to dislike; showing that you haven’t really been listening to what CM Punk has said.