CM Punk is on the cusp on fulfilling a lifelong dream and main eventing WrestleMania for the first time.
The 46-year-old had an iconic first run with the company from 2006-2014 before taking a seven-year hiatus away from professional wrestling period.
When he finally did return to wrestling in AEW, few could see a WWE return and realising an old dream in his future.
Nothing about Punk’s journey has been conventional and this triple-threat showdown against Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins to cap off night one epitomises that once more.
So how is the Chicago-hero enjoying his new lease of life in today’s WWE? Mail Sport caught up with Punk before it was announced he would get his dream come true.
Punk stares at his two WrestleMania opponents, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns
Do you have a new lease of life?
Punk: I think the company has done a complete 180. The culture, backstage is completely different now, and it seems like people are less likely to walk on eggshells, and a lot of the people are just friendlier and enjoying themselves. I don’t feel like my guard needs to be up all the time.
It’s different and I am enjoying it. It think that comes across on screen.
Talk about you being helpful to NXT and others
Punk: We’ll talk about the future later – I don’t know what the future holds. Part of it is just really enjoying being in the moment and not worrying about whatever is coming next and just living that particular day or show that I’m on, having the best time I possibly can.
You give me three minutes for a promo, I’m going to maximise my three minutes, and then I’m going to enjoy myself backstage. And when it comes to people saying nice or mean things about me, I don’t think I’ve changed, I’ve always been that guy. Somebody asks me for help, if I can help them, I will. I’ve always been that way.
CM Punk and Roman Reigns will share the ring together as foes for the first at at WM41
Do people step up when they face CM Punk?
Punk: I think they have to. I’ve always tried to rise to the level of the legends that I’ve worked with. Early in my career, when I got to work with Eddie Guerrero, I realised real fast that there was such a talent and experience disparity.
Any chance I get to work with a legend, whether it was Stone Cold, doing something with Brett, I would always try and work with them as much as I could. Like, ‘Hey, Brett, want to put me in a sharpshooter?’ Getting to work with legends, also Rey, I always tried to step up.
So it’s not so much I’m trying to force other people to step up, I think we all recoginsie that this is fleeting. I could step outside and get hit by a bus. We all want everything we’re doing to be at a very high level. We set the bar pretty high for ourselves, and I think we’re all chasing that, we’re all trying to obtain that, I’m trying to rise to other people’s levels. If they’re trying to rise to whatever they perceive to be mine, great, then we just have a bunch of motivated people that want to put out the best possible product.
Could you see a world where WWE could get to this point?
Punk: No. I think Netflix is something that I’m still trying to wrap my head around. An I still don’t think there’s a lot of people that realise how big the Netflix thing is. I think coming up, in a few short weeks, we’re going to find out. Going over and doing television leading into WrestleMania overseas, never been done before. We’ve famously done the shows in England and Europe and stuff like that, but they have always been on tape delay, these are going to be live.
I think it is going to be big. How big? I don’t know. Tune in to find out. It’s going to be an experiment.
Paul Heyman’s previous alliance with CM Punk has been the talk of his current storyline
Do you still like doing international tours?
Punk: I do, but the truth is it is hard work. Travelling is a drag. I don’t like being away from my wife and my dog.
But, for example, I got hurt, I was supposed to go to Perth last year for Elimination Chamber, and there was definitely a sense of, ‘Man, I don’t know the next time I’m going to be there’.
There’s that little hint in me that feels like I maybe let some people down, but I also don’t want to spread myself too thin. I want to try and give people what they’re looking for, but I also don’t want to wake up on the wrong side of the bed, do too much and diminish somebody’s WWE experience.
The benefit of being on Netflix is being able to go to all these international markets. People are starved, they haven’t seen CM Punk in 10+ years, so I’m going to be on it every day, as much as I can be to try and give these people as fun memories and good experiences, but it does, as a talent, take a lot out of you, but it’s very rewarding at the end of the day. So I’m going to try make as many European cities as I can, coming up in the next month.
How do you feel about still not main-eventing WrestleMania?
Punk: I think that things I may have said 10 to 12 years ago, I think there’s a lot of fans that have held onto that way more than I have. Sometimes I’m kind of like, it’s really not that big of a deal.
Main-eventing WrestleMania has always been a goal of mine, but goals change. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to wrestle in the main event of WrestleMania, but I’m at the stage in my career where I’m like, ‘Oh, OK, so this person’s going to main event. All right, well you aren’t going to be able to follow this’. I’ll go first, I’ll shower and I’ll eat some doughnuts and I’ll watch whatever you call a main event and and I’ll just go, ‘Oh yeah, all right, I was right. They couldn’t follow it.’
Punk has been enjoying himself much more the second time around in WWE
What was it like working with Roman Reigns?
Punk: There’s been a few times in my career where you don’t really have to do much and you realise, ‘Ah, I got them’. When I started off in this business, at least early in my career, I remember flying off the top rope, landing on concrete in front of like 13 people, and you like back on that now and you go, ‘Why was I doing that? I can stand next to this guy in a shark cage.
But it’s the years that I put in. It’s the work that Roman’s put in. And when you finally see those two guys stand next to each other and stare at each other, you know there’s definitely something there. It got people excited and I definitely think you’ll probably see more of that in the future. I threw him out the Royal Rumble, so that’s pretty neat.
Is that WrestleMania main event worthy?
Punk: We’ll wait and see. Maybe The Rock doesn’t want it to be, I don’t know. He is on the board of directors, you know. [Laughs]
What do the next few years look like for CM Punk?
Punk: Me trying to stay as healthy as I can for as long as I can. Not that there’s anything wrong with me now, but things can change in an instant. I had all these grand plans for when I came back and I tore my tricep in the Royal Rumble. I’m not young, but I’m also not anywhere near being in the grave.
It was revealed to CM Punk in London that he would main event WrestleMania
And with everything being so different, the culture being different, the schedule being different, Netflix and everything. Bragging that you’re a full time superstar nowadays isn’t like bragging that you were a full time superstar back in my day, which wasn’t like bragging you were a full time superstar in Ricky Steamboat’s day, wrestling every single day, and nowadays you do one day a week, maybe two, so it’s an experiment, it’s adjusting.
It’s figuring out the new schedule and where I fit in, but also embracing the fact that, because it’s a different place, if I’m not feeling it, I can say, ‘Hey, maybe give me a week off here’.
It’s a juggling exercise, and it’s still sort of new to me. So we’re just trying to figure it out. I’ll be in your face every single Monday on Netflix, just trying to be the best in the world, trying to enjoy every single moment, and I’ll be in the main event of WrestleMania eventually.
Watch WrestleMania 41 from Las Vegas on NetflixApril 19 and 20
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