Randy Orton Admits He Reached Out To CM Punk About WWE Return
When Randy Orton heard about CM Punk being done with another wrestling company, he reached out to bring his former on-screen rival back to WWE.
During CM Punk’s initial WWE run from 2006 to early 2014, he crossed paths with Randy Orton numerous times in the ring and outside of it as well.
Fans of Punk likely remember it well when at Unforgiven 2008, Orton punted Punk in a backstage segment while Punk was the World Heavyweight Champion. That moment led to Punk being stripped of the World Heavyweight Title.
At Survivor Series 2023 in Chicago, Randy Orton and CM Punk were in the news together again. That was when Orton returned after 18 months to help his team win a WarGames match. It was also the night when Punk returned to WWE unannounced, which some might say stole a bit of Orton’s thunder, at least for one night.
The reason Punk returned to WWE in November 2023 is because AEW fired him due to a backstage fight with Jack Perry. There was also some backstage incident that led to AEW boss Tony Khan saying his life was in danger.
In a WWE Digitial video, Orton and Punk re-watched their WrestleMania 27 match from 2011 that ended with Orton delivering an RKO while Punk was jumping off the top rope. During the discussion, Orton made it public that when he heard about Punk being free (he did not mention AEW), Orton messaged Punk about it.
CM Punk: “I put it like this to people because I’m a huge hockey guy. There’s guys you play against, and it’s always gonna be chippy. You might fight with them, you hate them, shit disturber, but then they get traded in free agency, and you’re going to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and all of a sudden he’s on your team, and it’s just like, I’m glad you’re on my team. That’s what that felt like to me.”
Randy Orton: “We’re good. Well, s**t, I feel like I reached out. I forget what had happened, but I might have seen something online or whatever, maybe I knew you were leaving, and I think that minute I saw that, I reached out right away. This was before, I don’t know if you had already talked to people and were coming back or what, but this would have been last summer or last fall, I think when I knew for sure that you were leaving.”
I legitimately was like, He needs to come back, he needs to come back. This is where you belong. I think you reiterated that. You are like, ‘Yeah, you’re right, I need to come home. I’m glad you did, dude.”
CP: “I am, too. 100%.”
RO: “Hell yeah, man. Love you, man. Give me a hug. [They hug] We’re buddies. We’re buddies.”
CP: “Now we’re the old buddies.”
RO: “Yeah, we’re the old buddies, we’re the old-timers. Let’s go lead this locker room.”
CP: “Let’s f**king do it.”
The two locker room leaders did in fact hug it out on camera for the world to see.
Randy Orton Going For The US Title At WrestleMania 40
At the WWE Elimination Chamber PLE, US Champion Logan Paul knocked out Randy Orton with a Brass Knuckle punch to the jaw during their Elimination Chamber match, which gave Drew McIntyre the win over Orton. The master of the RKO will get his chance for revenge at WrestleMania 40 when he challenges Paul for the US Title in a match that also features Kevin Owens.
As for CM Punk, we found out on the March 25th episode of WWE Raw that he’ll be on commentary when Seth “Freakin” Rollins defends the World Heavyweight Title against Drew McIntyre. Punk suffered a torn right triceps at January’s Royal Rumble and will likely be out of action for anywhere from six to eight months.