CM Punk highlights how his return to WWE ultimately came to fruition.
Punk spoke about his his return to the company on the SI Media podcast with Jimmy Traina. Punk said he was so burnt out after leaving WWE in 2014 that he needed time away, and he’s not the first to do it. He added that Vince McMahon being ousted from the company probably helped, and he now sees WWE is a different company than 10 years ago.
“Obviously, my attitude ten years ago was, I’m done with wrestling. And there’s certain people that want to kind of crucify me for that, but the truth is, I was just so burnt out,” Punk said. “You dedicate your life to something, and it took me X amount of years to get to WWE, and I was there for ten years. People don’t realize, who’s the one guy that wrestled the most matches every year in WWE for consecutive years? It was me. I was burnt out.
“It takes a while to come back from burning out,” he continued. “Across the board, everybody I feel like has done it in some way. Paul Heyman left, Paul Heyman came back. I think the door being opened with Vince leaving I think really kind of almost expedited things. Being told that it’s a completely different place and kind of having to have blind faith to go back into that is a risk. But now, I can tell you I think it’s a completely different place.”
Traina also asked Punk if he would have gone back if Vince was still around.
“I don’t think so, no. Someday, I’ll write a book,” Punk said. “I’ll tell everybody.”
CM Punk on history with Vince McMahon
CM Punk spoke more about his relationship with McMahon during a recent interview with Denise Salcedo. Echoing his comments to Traina, Punk said he wasn’t exactly yearning for a return to WWE. He said a lot of things needed to happen for it even take place, but McMahon’s departure from the company helped move things along, and it was probably a mutual feeling,
“Vince [McMahon] being out of the picture, I think probably illuminated the way. I think that might have been one of the biggest things. And that’s both ways, for anybody who’s going to obviously sensationalize a headline. It wasn’t me, it wasn’t him, it was just there’s a lot of history there and all of the sudden, one of us is removed from the equation and I think it changed a lot of things.”
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