After watching Drew McIntyre leave Monday Night RAW after being deemed medically ineligible to wrestle in the King of the Ring Tournament, CM Punk decided that wasn't acceptable and entered the ring with a microphone in hand to demand a face-to-face confrontation with the “Scottish Warrior.”

But why? What did Punker have to say, and why was he so committed to discussing it live in front of a packed crowd when neither man was medically able to do anything about it in the ring? It's impossible to know, but considering how stubborn the “Best in the World” can be when he's offended, it's safe to say he was going to let his feelings out one way or another.

“Is it good to be alive on a Monday night in Hartford, Connecticut or what? My apologies for showing up a little bit late, I’ve had a weekend. I got locked inside headquarters in Stamford. By the time I got out, which was just a few short hours ago, it dawned on me that we are in the XL Center, so I drove straight here to be with you beautiful maniacs. I also drove here to get into a fight with Drew McIntyre, but apparently he has left the building,” CM Punk announced.

“So, Pat McAfee, last week, you recall I said, just to get under Drew’s skin as he sat in the cheap seats, I said ‘I can do my business in a shorter amount of time than he was World Heavyweight Champion which was five minutes and 46 seconds, right? Not that I’m trying to make that a thing or anything but five minutes 46 seconds since I came to pick a fight and he left, this is not gonna be a popular decision, but what if today we go overtime? What if I stay here long enough for Drew to come back because you know, you know he’s at a red light right now. He just left. And you know he’s not texting his wife, he’s scrolling through Twitter, so please, get your phones out, take your pictures – you too, Pat – Tweet at him right now that I’m live and in living color right here. And if he’s not a coward, and I know that’s a big ask, if Drew McIntyre is not a coward, he will turn around, and he will come back to this building and in this ring, on top of the ice that Gordy House skated on for the Hartford Whalers, he can catch the beating that he deserves.

“I mean what I say, ladies and gentlemen, I will hold this show hostage. So, I would ask you guys what you wanna talk about to kill some time, but that’s somebody else’s deal. So, I’ll ask you this: can I tell you a story? All right, it’s a little bit of a recap, if you will. Back in January, inside the Royal Rumble, Drew McIntyre DDT’d me so hard that I posted my arm to prevent the brunt of the damage going to my neck, and I tore my triceps off the bone. And I was heartbroken. You were too, thank you. I thought Drew ruined my WrestleMania dreams. But I had a good cry about it, I had a great surgery, I picked myself back up, and I realized that Drew McIntyre didn’t ruin anything. If anything, he postponed my WrestleMania dreams, maybe delayed is a better word. Because in baseball, they call me a five-tool player. I can do everything. I can do commentary, and that’s what I did at WrestleMania. Five-tool player, Drew McIntyre, just a tool. And we’re waiting.”

Would McIntyre actually show up and get to work against the “Best in the World,” finally getting physical with the man who has been haunting his career as of late? Fans wouldn't have to wait long to find out, as Punk made it clear he wasn't going anywhere until he got an answer or ran out of things to say.

CM Punk pulled from his AEW past for his future with Drew McIntyre.

With Drew McIntyre still absent from WWE television, CM Punk decided to address the crowd further, shooting on his foe with a very familiar promo style while making a few references that seemed to go right over the heads of the fans in Hartford, Connecticut.

“For weeks, that turned into months, I have to tune into this show that I was excited to be back on, and listen to this guy run his mouth about how he prayed for me to be injured, and he’s proud that I’m injured. Now he prayed for this, he picked a fight, he picked a very personal fight with the pettiest man on the roster. Maybe even on earth. And I said last week I was gonna make his life a living h*ll, that’s exactly what I plan on doing, but his b*tching and complaining went from ‘I injured CM Punk’ to ‘CM Punk ruined my WrestleMania plans. CM Punk ruined my title aspirations. CM Punk broke my elbow.’ He’s a hater. He hates the way I look. He hates the way I walk. He hates the way I talk. But when I tune in, alls he does is talk about me. Alls he does is sit in the ring like me. Alls he does is try to speak like me. He tries to be me, and it dawned on me that Drew McIntyre: do you hate me? Or do you hate yourself?” CM Punk asked.

“Because you’re a choke artist. Not like how I’m a choke artist, Pat. Two very different things. Drew McIntyre prayed for this, I am the unforgiving consequence to his actions. Drew, you prayed for this, and I broke your elbow. And if you show up now or the next time I see you, I’m gonna break your face, and then I’m gonna break your heart. And all this praying you do, I don’t know if you’re a god-fearing man, but the fact that you haven’t shown up yet tells me that there is one thing that you fear. One name, three syllables, C-M-Punk!

“I’m gonna find you. If you make me go to Glasgow, Scottland, I’m gonna be hiding in a bowl of haggis, and I’m gonna pop out, and I’m gonna break your face.”

Hmmm, now why does that promo sound so familiar? Well, it's probably because he cut one remarkably similar in AEW, where Punk, off script, offered “Hangman” Adam Page a title match on a show he wasn't on and then called him a coward for not accepting it. Throw in the Jack Perry reference that clearly came off the cuff, and this was a weirdly reductive promo that focused more on Punk's AEW past than his WWE future and left folks expecting a babyface promo with a poor taste in their mouths.