CM Punk’s return on AEW Rampage drew one of the most amazing audience reactions to a pro wrestler in U.S. history. CM Punk ended a seven-year retirement and in doing so, set a company-record crowd of 15,316 tickets sold, selling out the United Center in Chicago in four minutes.
Punk’s return also set AEW’s single-event merchandise sales record of more than $200,000 with preliminary numbers from the top ten TV markets indicated ratings were up 57% from prior week.
In a fashion perfectly fitting Punk and his history with the WWE, he expressed his gratitude to the crowd by offering free ice cream bars at the end of the night as they leave the venue at the end of Rampage.
In an Instagram post, a local ice cream shop in Chicago called Pretty Cool Ice Cream, confirmed that CM Punk footed the bill himself for the ice cream that was provided.
“Since we have been getting a lot of questions, yes the ice cream was on him- it wasn’t a publicity stunt dreamed up by promoters,” they wrote. “He came to us on his own and asked us to help him do this 2 years ago, and finally the moment was right. Our small team worked tirelessly to hand make every bar, and CM Punk wrote the check for the entire bill himself.”
Ice cream bars Story #CMPunk#AEWRampage pic.twitter.com/HwfcrglRfv
— AEW Fantasybooking (@AEW_Dynamite) August 21, 2021
#CMPunk actually got his own ice cream bar 😂😂
📸 @abekanan pic.twitter.com/pKM0qHzIoq
— The Wrestle Files (@TheWrestleFiles) August 21, 2021
Punk also confirmed the incredibly kind gesture to reporters in a media call after the Rampage show: “To me, these ice cream bars represent an idea, an idea that was gift-wrapped to people that didn’t bother to take the time to try and understand their audience. This is the easiest home run I’ve ever hit and this is a legit thank you.”
