CM Punk On If His Return To Pro Wrestling Is What He Expected
Last year, AEW made a major statement by announcing the signing and return to professional wrestling of CM Punk. The former WWE Champion made his shocking return at AEW Dynamite: The First Dance. Since his comeback to pro wrestling, Punk has been in several feuds with different styles of wrestlers and has yet to be pinned in an AEW ring.
Joining Abe Kanan of Chicago's Rock 95.5 Radio Show, CM Punk spoke about what the last six months have been like since returning to wrestling. The Best in the World talked about the rewarding parts of coming back to wrestling and why his comeback has led to him falling in love with the business all over again.
"It's a lot of work but it's rewarding work," Punk said. "I tried to tell myself I can't care as much as I used to because I just burn out. It's a big reason why I was gone for 7 years. It's hard to do what we do at this level without caring, so instead I've adapted the philosophy of just leaving everything at work so when I'm not there, I'm not there. So I'm spread very thin, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just when I'm at AEW, I'm there 100%. I'm so on that I need the days off that I have every Wednesday or Friday, things like that to recuperate. The problem is, I'm such an asshole, I have like four other jobs and I don't have time to decompress.
"So is it everything I thought it would be? It's that, times ten. My barometer of whether it's all worth it is I look forward to being on a plane. I hate leaving my dog, I hate leaving my wife but I get excited for road trips because it's one day and I get to do what I'm falling back in love with and I have fun with it. It's everything I thought it could be and more times ten, it's challenging but everything that's worth doing is hard so it's rewarding."
CM Punk also spoke about his match with MJF on tonight's AEW Dynamite live from his hometown of Chicago. The former WWE Champion said MJF upsets him by the things he's said about him during their face-offs and reveals what he expects to happen during their match.
"I think if he says stuff that makes me feel a certain way, that's great because if he pisses me off, if he's upsetting me, he's upsetting my fanbase," Punk said. "I think that generates interest and that's what we want. I have to 100% value someone's opinion for them to truly hurt my feelings and after doing this for x amount of years, fighting in the UFC, and hearing just a bunch about how I lost, you've got to really do something stupid to severally get under my skin. He comes really close though. When you say these things, you should expect to get punched in the face and that's exactly what's going to happen [on Dynamite] in the Wintrust Arena."
CM PUNK INTERVIEW LIVE WITH ABE KANAN https://t.co/6DG0CzIMMD
— Abe Kanan (@abekanan) February 1, 2022
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Abe Kanan of Chicago's Rock 95.5 Radio Show with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.