Renee Young has a sit-down interview with CM Punk. She first asks him what brought him back to professional wrestling. Punk says this was just something that got offered to him. Someone floated the idea and he didn’t immediately say, “No.” If his first initial reaction wasn’t to turn it down, he decided to see it through.
Punk says wrestling and what he’s doing now are two different things. Punk does not work with, have any relationship, or talked to anyone in WWE. This is a FOX thing. Punk is not employed by WWE. He gets to criticize the product. That’s what made him popular. To a fault, he had no filter. Punk thinks he can find his way in the business again. The product is broken. What the fans need is someone without the ties of being worried about being punished to speak. Punk doesn’t have to worry about being jobbed out or not used. Young says people have been craving his voice in WWE.
Punk is asked about the process to bring him back. Punk says he always hated when the office tried to “work the boys” like when they didn’t tell him about Nexus when they debuted. Punk talks about how the butterflies were gone toward the end. Now the butterflies are back. Nothing ever got to him, so when he gets excited it’s fun.
How many people knew he would be here that day? Punk says his inner circle is very small. Friends you thought you had that were work acquaintances fell by the wayside. His wife and Renee knew. Maybe 10-12 people. Punk says Renee’s reaction and Paige’s reaction were great when he came back. Punk says he talked with Jim Ross about his return.
Renee Young asks if we’ll see CM Punk in the ring. Punk says regardless of his answer, someone will be upset. Punk says he works for FOX and hasn’t talked to anyone in WWE. It’s not something he’s actively pursued. He’s 41 and lived an experienced life to know never to say never, but that bridge really needs to be built. Punk says they’ll start chanting his name and people will be upset about it.
Punk says this product is the same when he left it. Professional wrestling could be so much better. Regardless of what he thought, it’s the same. Stuff is overproduced and micromanaged. The characters people loved the most through history are the ones that get to figure it out by themselves rather than being told what to do by people who never drew. Punk likes the women, but he doesn’t like the forced Women’s Revolution. You don’t need to put a label on everything. Punk really likes the NXT thing and sees a lot of himself in that. He was an indy guy and was told he would never be brought to television, so he knows the struggle. The characters all feel new. Punk will be back eventually and talk more about that. There’s a lot of wrestling on television.
https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1197017779687350274?s=20
Fun comeback for CM Punk on WWE Backstage. Got some shots in there, but overall no mention of Tony Khan or AEW. Stopped short of saying anything too controversial other than saying the product is overproduced and the "Big Dog" segment from #SmackDown sucked. #WWEBackstage
— Wrestleview.com (@wrestleview) November 20, 2019
My hat is off to @ReneeYoungWWE, who kept the train on the tracks all night. #WWEBackstage
— Wrestleview.com (@wrestleview) November 20, 2019