A few days after Stranger Things’ controversial finale on Netflix, CM Punk shared his thoughts on the final episode as well as the ongoing criticism surrounding it. Promoting his upcoming film, Punk appeared on the My Mom’s Basement podcast, where he addressed the Netflix series, his feedback on it, and its fandom.
“I don’t know if this is just like a stan culture thing or if I’ve just, like, aged out. I certainly don’t understand. I see it in wrestling, and I see it with fandoms like Stranger Things and all that stuff,” Punk continued. “People just seem to want to be angry about everything because it didn’t happen the way they fantasy booked it in their head. To me, that’s a slight mental illness.”
Punk further opened up about the outrage fans display when certain wrestling speculations or rumors don’t come true during shows. He then proceeded to relate that same outrage to one focused on Stranger Things.
“People [are] just straight up mad about the way it ended, and I thought the 45-minute epilogue—I was like, now mind you, I’m not a feverish Stranger Things fan. I’ve watched the entire show. Hard to remember what has happened because they spend way too much time in between seasons, which I feel is a valid criticism,” Punk added. “I thought it was so poetic the way they wrapped it up. At the heart of the movie, it’s a nostalgia bomb.”
The series finale of Stranger Things was released on December 31, 2025, concluding a five-season run that lasted almost a decade.
