Former WWE Superstar CM Punk recently spoke with FOX Sports Wisconsin about his UFC training, when he expects to fight, his WWE career, including the chance he ever returns, and more. You can read a few excerpts below:
CM Punk Talks UFC, Why He’s Fighting Now
Because I’m not getting any younger. I’m the kind of guy that jumps at an opportunity. I’m sure you’re going to ask, and I understand all the criticism levied towards myself and UFC, but at the end of the day I’m the one getting in there, I’m the one putting my neck out on the line. If I fail, I fail in front of the entire world. To me that’s the juice, it’s all about the action. I’ve been thinking about doing it for a very, very, very long time. The opportunity presented itself, so I’d be a fool to say no.
What was the best part about working for WWE?
Turning chicken(expletive) into chicken salad. I think that’s what the best workers always did. I think they took whatever idea they were given and they made it better. I think they take bad situations and bad ideas and make them palatable to the audience. I think they take bad material and shine it up and make it digestible. It was always a challenge because there’s so much content with them. There’s the three-hour Monday, there’s the two-hour Friday and now there’s NXT and there’s Superstars and there’s Main Event, and there’s all these shows, and just trying to stay entertaining and trying to be riveting and trying to reinvent yourself every night, just staying over with the fans. That was always at least, for the most part, creatively stimulating.
The worst part of his WWE tenure?
The worst part of it? After a while, I would say the worst part of it was their not listening and not understanding, and not getting a break when I probably needed one. Because who’s to say where I’d be right now? They’re always looking for the next guy, so nobody is really bigger than the company. Not that I ever thought I was, but I thought I was a pretty healthy cog in the machine. I thought I could’ve been afforded a vacation here or there.
What chance is there that Punk ever returns to WWE?
Zero.
