SANADA Poses By Rocky Statue In Philadelphia, Joey Janela Chimes In With CM Punk Jab

By Danny Wolstanholme
Sanada looking in front of him Etsuo Hara/Getty Images

On April 8 at New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Sakura Genesis pay-per-view, 2023 New Japan Cup winner SANADA defeated Kazuchika Okada to become the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. This past weekend, the new champion was in the United States performing at NJPW Capital Collision in Washington, District of Columbia, and at NJPW Collision in Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While in the City of Brotherly Love, SANADA shared an image of himself standing in front of the famous "Rocky" statue on social media, which prompted a response from "The Bad Boy" Joey Janela, who immediately took a jab at CM Punk. 

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Janela wrote, "This is what a real champion looks and acts like @CMPunk. Sanada you can wrestle me anytime brother!" Janela has recently poked fun at Punk after the former AEW World Champion revealed that he had never seen a "Rocky" movie during a rant on Instagram last month. Yesterday, "The Bad Boy" had agreed to work with Punk on the condition that "he watches every Rocky movie in a row and live streams it like Shia LaBeouf watching his own films."

Punk's Instagram story tirade in March saw him take shots at Chris Jericho, Dave Meltzer, and Jon Moxley. Punk claimed that he sat and listened to Moxley's idea about modeling their AEW feud on the "Rocky III" film. However, Punk expressed that he had not seen any movie from the franchise and that he ultimately thought the idea "sucked." In the end, the 44-year-old opted to go ahead with the plans because AEW CEO Tony Khan wanted to do it. Punk and Moxley briefly feuded over the AEW World Championship last summer. 

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