When CM Punk disappeared from the skilled wrestling panorama, exiting WWE after the 2014 Royal Rumble, followers continued to chant his identify at reveals throughout the globe in his absence. It might be almost eight years earlier than he resurfaced within the wrestling world, nevertheless, debuting with AEW in August of 2021. Now again in WWE and really a lot atop the trade as soon as once more, it stands to wonder if or not he nonetheless will get the anticipatory feeling earlier than a match at this stage of a profession that dates again to 1997. Addressing the query in an look on “Pardon My Take,” Punk recollects his WWE departure and the popularity that one thing simply wasn’t proper.
“That was one of many causes I disappeared for seven years from the enterprise and 10 from WWE,” he defined. “I wrestled The Undertaker at WrestleMania and I used to be simply [deflated].” Realizing that is by no means how he ought to have been feeling after taking over a wrestling legend on the enterprise’ largest stage, issues weren’t sitting nicely with Punk in any respect. “It fearful me,” he stated, “That is all the things I ever needed. At that time, I had been on the highway for, like, 9 years straight, no breaks, and it is only a grind, and I beloved the match we had, I beloved working with him, and there is part of me that is similar to, ‘Man, I ought to have been in a greater headspace than that to essentially be capable to take pleasure in it and notice the present that it was.'”
A decade later, a brand new perspective
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Today, Punk appears to be having simply as a lot enjoyable as ever, at or close to the highest of the cardboard in WWE since his return in November of 2024 (although a triceps harm stored him out of motion for a great portion of the next 12 months) and now having fun with the corporate of his spouse, AJ Lee, after her latest return following her personal decade-long hiatus. Wanting again once more on the tip of his preliminary WWE run, all of the indicators have been there to step away, and maybe if he’d have acknowledged them extra shortly, that first separation may have been extra amicable, and extra of a break, somewhat than the nasty cut up it ended up changing into.
“I simply wasn’t mentally there and that sucked,” Punk stated. “When the bell rang, my head was within the sport, however I felt like I shoulda been extra enthusiastic about it. I shoulda been extra amped up about it. I shoulda been like, ‘Yeah, right here we’re,’ and I used to be simply extra pissed off and offended about all this different bulls***.”
All’s nicely that ends nicely, after all, and the teachings from a decade in the past have given Punk a special perspective, which appears to be making his present WWE run extra simply appreciated. “That feeling remains to be there,” he stated. “It is truly, I feel, amplified now as a result of I’m extra current and extra within the now, not fearful about yesterday, not fearful about what the hell we’re doing tomorrow, and I can take pleasure in it as a result of I do know this ain’t gonna final perpetually.”
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