CM Punk talks returning to wrestling on Renee Paquette’s podcast

‘An interesting scenario…also, just the stupidest amount of money.’

December 8, 2020

CM Punk was this week’s guest on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette, where he talked about a number of topics, including his MMA training, his newfound love of acting, and of course, the world of pro wrestling. Renee asked her former WWE Backstage co-host about the current landscape of wrestling, working for Vince McMahon, and of course, his thoughts on a potential return to the squared circle.

When asked about the current crop of wrestlers, Punk said, “For ego purposes, because while I do have one, it’s not as big as people like to imagine it is…I don’t take credit for anything that’s happened. I do think there’s probably a lot of people that wouldn’t currently have jobs if it wasn’t for me,” going on to name Kevin Steen [Owens], Sami Zayn, and Daniel Bryan’s WrestleMania XXX main event as things that may not have happened if it wasn’t for him, or at least the absence of him.

When it comes to missing performing, the former WWE Champion said, “I don’t think too much about the crowd and the adrenaline you would get from a live audience and performing. And that’s all gone right now, anyway.”

Renee brought up how in the Before Times, when fans were still attending shows physically rather than just virtually, “CM Punk” chants were prevalent. Punk joked, “They should pump those in[to the ThunderDome] if they wanted to make the show realistic! If they were really interested in giving the fans a true WWE experience, give the Universe what they want! Pipe in the CM Punk chants!”

Toward the end of the interview, Renee asked Punk the question he is probably sick of being asked by now, but he gave some interesting insight when asked what it would take to return to a wrestling ring:

Well, I think the landscape is currently much different than when I left, right? You could play the game where you’re like, “oh, if AEW is an option, would you have gone right after you left WWE?” If you’re gonna play that game, there’s no way they would have handled it the way they handled it, with suspending me for two months, and then nobody contacting me, and then the next thing I know I get release papers on my wedding day. That wouldn’t have happened if there was an AEW because then they probably would have approached me and said “hey your suspension is up, ready to come back to work? Let’s work this out” or handled it like any other sports organization would have handled a star pitcher going home. They’re not just gonna let them leave the team and go to a rival organization.

What would it take? Without wanting to insult anybody on either side of the fence, any WWE talent or AEW talent, it would take above all an interesting scenario. A story that would be fun to tell. Also, just the stupidest amount of money — but they could save themselves a whole lot of money if they just presented a fun storyline. What that is, I don’t know. I’m a pretty picky guy, especially at this point. I think there’s more interesting people on the AEW side of things for me to wrestle, but that’s just because I’ve never wrestled them before. Young Bucks, Kenny Omega…on the WWE side of things, I don’t know that there’s anybody there currently that I haven’t wrestled that I would be interested in wrestling?

I feel like a shit bag even saying that “sh*t ton of money thing”, but on the WWE side of things, it’s like, let’s be honest. There’s baggage. There’s stuff that’s gotta be worked through. So I don’t know how you get there. I really don’t.

What do you think? Is the Voice of the Voiceless warming up to the idea of a return to the ring? Would you even want to see that, seven years removed from his last match?