CM Punk Had Major Impact On Popular NXT Star

CM Punk has been having a positive impact backstage.

On December 12th, 2023, Dijak cut his head open in a match against Eddy Thorpe. Although the incident was relatively minor on the face of it, it came just 24 hours before the pair were meant to tape an NXT Underground Match.

While Dijak was unconcerned about himself as the veteran, he was worried the match would be called off, and have a big impact on Thorpe.

Speaking on WWE Die Woche, the star recalled ranting backstage because was so angry with himself over what was an avoidable accident.

“So I was bleeding and I was angry because I took the steps and I hit my head and nothing bad happened but I was — after we did the buckle and I got dragged to the back, I came to the back yelling and cursing and angry because I was angry with myself. I wasn’t angry at anybody else, I was angry with myself and a lot of the time, I project that out visually and verbally.”

Dijak went on to reveal that it was actually CM Punk who calmed him down before giving him advice about his wrestling career.

“I thought medical was going to rush over and say, you have a concussion, you can’t wrestle and it’s tomorrow. This match is tomorrow… because we’re taping it in advance. So I was angry and for whatever reason, CM Punk was there. We had talked before. I had asked him for feedback on the Iron Survivor Challenge match so we had a bit of rapport at that point, even though it had only been a couple days.

But he came over to me and he talked to me and he calmed me down and he said that, ‘We’ll talk about the match after’ and to go get my head taken care of and stuff like that and then I talked to him after and I don’t know if he remembers this or knows this or not, but after that, we had one of the most — no, we had the most important conversation that I’ve ever had in my professional wrestling career where he just gave me advice on what he thinks it takes to succeed and have success, maybe in pro wrestling in general but specifically in WWE…”

Sami Zayn Starts Over With CM Punk

Away from on-screen storylines, WWE figures have been at pains to emphasise how little trouble Punk has been since returning. Speaking in a recent interview, Sami Zayn addressed his own history with CM Punk, acknowledging things haven’t always been plain sailing.

However, Zayn said he’d spoken with Punk when he came back to WWE to ensure they got off on the right foot.

H/t to POST Wrestling