CM Punk On His Original Talks With Tony Khan And Why He Didn't Sign With AEW

Former WWE Champion CM Punk recently appeared on the Sunday Night's Main Event podcast to promote the season premiere of "Heels" on Starz, which premieres on Sunday, August 15. Punk stars on the show as a heel wrestler named Ricky Rabies, who has a valet named Vicky Rabies, played by actress Bonnie Somerville. You can click here for a recent report on Punk's in-ring work for the show.

Punk is rumored to be making his long-awaited return to pro wrestling soon, possibly at AEW's "The First Dance" edition of Rampage on August 20, from the United Center in Chicago, or at the AEW All Out pay-per-view on September 5 at the NOW Arena near Chicago. It was revealed a few years back that AEW President, CEO, General Manager & Head of Creative Tony Khan wanted to start AEW with Punk as one of the main talents. Punk was reportedly Khan's "first pick" to start a company with, and the two talked but nothing ever came of it.

SNME host Jason Agnew asked Punk about talking with Khan back then, and what made him decide against pursuing a future with the company at that time.

"Yeah, I talked to Tony," Punk confirmed. "You know, my perception on this, and I said this to Tony, to his face at that time... I'm a guy who has constantly heard, 'Hey I got a money guy, hey I got TV.' I've heard that at least once or twice a year for 15-20 years of my wrestling career. I've gotten bounced checks from those gentlemen. You watched it happen, especially after ECW folded, it was everybody was re-starting ECW, everybody was going to be the ECW guys.

"There was a dude named John Collins, who did time in prison for bouncing checks, and it always seems like somebody's gonna, 'Oh we're going to start up and we're going to compete with Vince [McMahon],' and I always thought that came from a bad spot because if you want to start up a pro wrestling company, I think you should always just focus on yourself."

Punk continued and said he's not interested in working pro wrestling right now as he is focused on being the best actor he can be.

"So, I more or less took a wait-and-see approach," Punk said of Khan and AEW. "And I wasn't, or I am not, interested in pro wrestling, in that respect. We're here, we're talking about 'Heels' and it just so happened, maybe it could be back luck that the next role I got is set in the world of professional wrestling, but you know, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

"I'm focused on bring an actor, and just like I was when i was a wrestler, focused on being the best I could be, I'm focused on being the best actor I could be."

For those who missed it, you can click here for Punk's new comments on the August 20 AEW Rampage in Chicago, Daniel Bryan and Best In the World, Darby Allin, and more.

Stay tuned for more on Punk.