News

Former WWE Rival Surprisingly Defends CM Punk Against Critics

By John Canton • Published Jun 30, 2025 16:30 EDT
CM Punk

A wrestler with whom CM Punk did not get along in the past has publicly defended the former WWE Champion.

CM Punk headlined the WWE Night of Champions PLE against John Cena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but he also got a lot of attention for an apology.

Due to some past comments insulting WWE superstar The Miz about wrestling in Saudi Arabia, many fans were surprised that Punk competed at a show in the country.

During WWE’s Night of Champions Kickoff event, CM Punk issued an apology in good faith to let the fans in Saudi Arabia know that he didn’t have an issue with competing there.

“Legitimately had nothing to do with Saudi Arabia. I woke up crabby and I wrote a mean tweet to The Miz and I apologised to The Miz…and I sincerely apologise to all of Saudi Arabia.

I’m not perfect by any means, sometimes as human beings we screw up. The beautiful thing is everything is a lesson learned, and now here I am and you’ve invited me into your country and I’m grateful to be here. Thank you very much.”

That apology by Punk garnered a lot of attention from people who criticized him for retracting his critical comments in the past, while others praised him for what he said.

Among the praisers was Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who is WWE’s Chief Content Officer and the head of creative who works closely with Punk. Triple H praised Punk for evolving and growing as a person.

“If you’d have told me 10 years ago that CM Punk would be here in Saudi for the WWE, I would have thought you’re out of your mind.

But people grow, people change, people evolve, and they learn, and they learn a lot in life. Not only was I privileged to watch them this week as they prepared for this fight, I was privileged to watch two men grow as people, especially CM Punk.

I was privileged to watch him grow as a human being, to step out here and apologize to the people of Saudi Arabia, to just cherish where he is at in life and his career and the things he gets to do and the opportunities that he has. I was incredibly proud of him.”

Ryback Comes To CM Punk’s Defense

During CM Punk’s first run in WWE from 2006 to January 2014, one of the wrestlers who drew his ire the most was former Intercontinental Champion Ryback. Punk complained on numerous times about Ryback hurting him during matches and being unsafe.

Writing on X/Twitter, Ryback quote-tweeted an article criticizing CM Punk and made it clear that he didn’t think of Punk as a sellout.

I’ve had my issues with Punk, but I don’t see him as a sellout. He returned to do what he loves and to make money — much like you’re doing by writing critical think pieces about others for clicks.

WWE is a global business, and working at that level means navigating complex deals, personal beliefs, and public perception. His apology wasn’t about abandoning values — it was about how he expressed them publicly in ways that hurt professional relationships.

CM Punk lost his Night of Champions match to John Cena due to the interference of Seth Rollins and others when the referee was bumped. Rollins hit Punk with the Money in the Bank briefcase and The Stomp, which led to Cena getting the pinfall. This will likely lead Punk to seek revenge against Rollins and his friends.