CM Punk Discusses His WWE Exit, WWE Firing Him, Problems With Ryback, TNA, His Future

By Sean Ross Sapp

CM Punk appeared on his friend Colt Cobana's podcast this week, which was advertised as Punk finally discussing his highly publicized exit from WWE. He explained that he chose to give it away for free on Cabana's podcast as opposed to getting a big payday out of a shoot interview.

Punk opened by saying "I wouldn't say Vince convinced me, but I talked myself into giving it the old college try," said Punk, about when he re-signed in 2011. "Now people are saying 'You can't make change sitting on your couch in Chicago', and I disagree, because that's exactly what I'm doing now. It almost took that. When I split in January, they changed everything. Part of me thinks they changed a lot of stuff to spite me. And that's fine, because certain people who deserved certain things at those certain times got those things."

Punk said that while he's the happiest he's ever been, he considers it "OK to be bitter. I wasn't the nicest guy to deal with or the easiest guy to deal with either."

Punk said that the main reason that he left the company after the Royal Rumble was due to injuries, notably broken ribs sustained at the hands of Ryback. He also worked through a concussion and fever all while his checks got smaller.

He suffered a concussion early in the 2014 Royal Rumble match and still worked over 40 minutes. Despite suffering a concussion, he still passed a concussion test while paying little to no attention to it. He scoffed at the test, saying it was "bullsh*t."

Read: Kevin Nash Talks CM Punk's WWE Departure, What Punk Said At The Royal Rumble, More

Punk said that the company asked him to sign visas and take drug tests instead of listening to his requests to help him. He had decided then that he was going home. Punk said that he remembered ripping Triple H for cutting into his hot angle in 2011, and told he and Vince that it was ridiculous that they weren't considering Daniel Bryan for the WrestleMania 30 main event. He said Vince has embraced him while in tears, and said that Punk was family.

Among other grievances, he pointed at Brock Lesnar's sponsors. Prior to Lesnar's deal, Punk had requested sponsors as another means of revenue for himself and other wrestlers, and the idea was shot down. He also claimed that McMahon shot down his idea to walk to the cage with UFC fighter Chael Sonnen because someone could "die in the cage." Weeks later, Triple H was walking Floyd Mayweather to the ring during an event. He said that really only he and John Cena would ever question Vince's decisions, and on occasion Randy Orton.

Punk said that the WWE's doctor was inept and diagnosed a MRSA staph infection as a fatty deposit. He said that his new doctor, recommended by his wife AJ Lee, told him he should be dead after wrestling with a staph infection for months.

Punk considers his wrestling career a failure since he didn't get to the main event of WrestleMania, but he's okay with that and he's moving on with life. He said Vince McMahon was old and out of touch, and that even though he had the top match at WrestleMania 29, he didn't make the money the bigger names did.

Punk says that he didn't quit the company, he was actually fired. Two weeks after leaving, he was sent a text message by Vince McMahon saying he was suspended for two months. When the suspension ended, he wasn't contacted by the company.

He asked where his owed royalties were, and wasn't given an answer by the company. On his wedding day, he received termination papers that said he had breached his contract. He then hired a ruthless lawyer to fight the breach and ended up with a settlement that he said gave him "everything he asked for and more."

Punk made it clear that he would never have a working relationship with WWE again. Punk thinks that after having him as an independent contractor for a decade, he could ruin their business model by taking them to court. They were also afraid that he would go to TNA, but he said he despises wrestling now and won't wrestle again. UFC was also listed in Punk's "no-compete" deal.

Punk had incredibly unkind words for Ryback, who he said broke his ribs and took decades off of his life. He also accused Ryback of abusing steroids. He said that during both of his feuds with Ryback he sustained injuries. He said that he suspected that Ryback was doing it on purpose because it happened so much.

Among other things Punk talked about was the plan for him in a WWE Film, comparisons to WWE and NFL, and many issues with Triple H. He also said that he came up with the idea of The Shield, and also crapped his pants on Smackdown, and he thought it was hilarious.

The interview crashed Colt Cobana's website, but you can still subscribe on iTunes.

Cobana tweeted about the podcast after it released. We'll have more stories in relation to CM Punk's exit to follow.

Source: Colt Cobana's Art Of Wrestling Podcast

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