Renee Paquette Names Pro Wrestling’s Greatest Comeback Of 2021
In an appearance on the Sportskeeda Wrestling Awards, Renee Paquette talked about some of the big returns in pro wrestling this past year.
When asked who had the biggest return, Paquette's first thought was CM Punk, who returned to wrestling for the first time in seven years this past summer when he debuted for AEW at AEW Rampage: The First Dance in Chicago, Illinois.
"My gut instinct, of course, is to say Punk," Renee Paquette said. "You know, he's been gone for seven years. He essentially is and has been the heartbeat of independent wrestling and professional wrestling for so long. So to have him be gone and have his absence but now, to finally have it back, I mean, I don't think anyone can top the return that CM Punk had in Chicago.
"The run he's been able to have, I mean, you even look at the match he just recently had with MJF, again, in Chicago. And you know, in terms of putting over newer talent, seeing that the guy can still go, he's in great shape, he's happy. He loves wrestling again."
While CM Punk is Paquette's answer, she made sure to give some credit to Christian Cage, who returned after a seven-year layoff himself in 2021, first working the WWE Royal Rumble and then joining AEW. Paquette also gave credit to Becky Lynch, who returned to WWE after a year off to give birth to her daughter.
"I have to go see CM Punk, but I would be remiss and not go on like a little bit of a tangent here about Christian Cage as well," Renee Paquette said. "Because I think that that was one, it's not that it slid under the radar, but like, we need to make a huge deal out of the fact that Christian Cage is doing what he's doing. He's one of the best. He's an absolute ring general.
"In terms of knowledge, in terms of leading other people through matches, in terms of creativity and putting matches together, and innovations, and whatnot, I mean, he is one of the absolute best to ever do it. So almost in a similar Punk fashion but, you know, he was gone for such a long time, but he was out with injuries.
"We thought we were never, ever going to see Christian wrestle ever again. So to have him show up in the Royal Rumble, blow people's minds, like 'wait, what?' To have the moment, you know, for him to see Edge, to have that moment with those two together, and then just after that, he shows up in AEW. So I think when you're talking Forbidden Door moments, he used that like a revolving door.
"I think it was really cool to see him in both promotions so close together. So I give it to those two. But man, Becky Lynch coming back after having a baby. It's so hard for me to pick. She just looks so good and she's just at the top of her game. I can't say enough good things about Becky Lynch. But I know that she's such a bad-ss and you know, we knew she was going return at some point. Where I think it was such question marks about Punk and it was about Christian. So, anyways, final answer, CM Punk."
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