Some Within WWE Very Against CM Punk’s Return
A major WWE star has claimed that not everyone is delighted to see CM Punk back with WWE.
Almost a decade on from his acrimonious exit, CM Punk returned to WWE at Survivor Series. The star had found himself a free agent in early September after being fired by AEW. The abrupt end to his run with the promotion brought to an end a controversy-laden two-year spell with the company.
While fans in Chicago were happy to see Punk back and his return has been greeted largely positively online given that he’s so unpredictable, not everyone is rolling out the red carpet.
Speaking in a new interview with Steve Fall for WrestlingNewsCo, Bobby Lashley gave his thoughts on Punk’s big comeback. The All-Mighty gave little away about his own feelings but confirmed some people he’d spoken to were “very against” the star coming back.
“I really don’t know, to be honest with you. I was actually leaving around the time that Punk was really starting to pick up a little steam. He was there, but he really didn’t do anything at that time. I know he had a big impact in WWE in his time there. I spoke with some of the guys that know him, got mixed feelings. Some people are very against it, some are, ‘Ah you know, whatever.’ But it’s the land of opportunity.
So if he comes back and he helps out the show, that’s the business side of it. I don’t really know Punk too personally. When I was fighting, he went to UFC. I put my money on him, so he does owe me a little bit of money [laughs]. Twice! I was like, ‘What the hell are you doing? Come on.’ But I hope the business is about this as well as everyone else.
I think for integrity purposes, I understand he has a big name, he’s coming back, and he’s gonna do some big numbers. But I hope they make him kind of work for some of this stuff. I hope he’s not one of the people that, ‘Oh, okay, he comes back, win the Rumble, we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do that.’ I hope they give him an opportunity to kind of prove his loyalty to the business and some of the people in there.
Just to let everybody know, some of the naysayers, some of the people that aren’t too happy about him being there, I hope he has the opportunity to work his back up to the top and not just given everything because maybe he negotiated a big contract that allowed him to do that,”
CM Punk Repeatedly Tried To Return To WWE
Despite the way in which he left the company in 2014, and his comments since, it’s been reported that CM Punk actually made multiple attempts to return to WWE.
Punk is said to have approached WWE prior to joining AEW in August 2021, and again sometime in 2022 despite being under contract with the Tony Khan-led promotion.
H/t to Fightful