By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
CM Punk spoke with the MMA media on Wednesday to promote his UFC 225 fight against Mike Jackson and was asked some pro wrestling and WWE related questions. The following are the highlights from an MMAFighting.com recap written by Marc Raimondi.
Punk on what he told Ronda Rousey prior to her in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34: “The only thing I told her was to just have fun. I don’t know what it’s like back there in this current environment. I know she’d probably get treated differently, just as I know I probably get treated differently here. The only thing I ever told her is, ‘I know you’ve got a lot of people telling you, do this, don’t do this’ — whatever you do, when you go out there for WrestleMania, make sure you have fun. Period.”
Punk on whether he watched Rousey’s match at WrestleMania: “No, I did not. I saw a couple of clips here and there. And still, when I say it’s hard for me to watch wrestling, it’s not like an anxiety thing, it’s not like an, ‘ugh, I can’t do it.’ I literally, I can’t get through eight seconds without being like, ‘OK, umm, can I change the channel? I’m bored, I gotta watch something else.’ It’s like going to a baseball game at CitiField. I like Wrigley Field, it’s old school. Going to a baseball game at CitiField, it’s like a guy gets ball four and they blow off fireworks and there’s LED screens on everything.”
Punk on his lack of interest in pro wrestling expanding beyond WWE: “Subconsciously, there’s like a disconnect. I see clips. I know Kenny Omega is the hot guy. He’s probably one of the better guys in the world right now, but it’s the same thing. I’ll watch clips of matches, I don’t see myself watching a full match. I just can’t do it… I think it’s definitely too glossy, but it’s been like that for a long time,” CM Punk said. “My jam was house shows before they started calling them live events, where it was a curtain and a ring and a light above the ring. That was my jam. That was my world, that was where I liked to thrive.”
Powell’s POV: Punk fell out of love with the pro wrestling industry. I wonder if anything would be different right now had he been able to truly step away and didn’t have the defamation lawsuit filed by WWE physician Chris Amann hanging over his head until Tuesday. Obviously, things could change from a mental or even a financial need standpoint at some point, but based on his comments it doesn’t seem like Punk is even considering the idea of returning to a pro wrestling ring.
If he truly wanted to take a break, he wouldn’t have stirred shit up on that podcast. Sure, it wasn’t defamation, but he should have just focused on his MMA career and the future instead of bringing up the past. Did he really think WWE and that doctor would let him talk junk?
I disagree. He should be allowed to tell his story as long as it’s truthful, and the jury obviously believed it was just that.
The Punk never wrestling again thing was clearly established a few years ago.