Jim Ross recently talked about WWE management’s opinion of CM Punk on an episode of his Grillin JR podcast. During the conversation, the topic of Punk’s contract negotiations with WWE before the famous Money in the Bank 2011 PPV was discussed.
It was noted during the conversation that Punk re-signed with WWE backstage at the PPV that night.
“The thing about that is it speaks to a bigger picture,” JR said on the show. “Why would – if you didn’t have complete faith from your boss and your upper management and yourself – why would Laurinaitis wait until the sands of the hourglass are running thin to start negotiations and get this thing signed?”
Ross would continue to say that Punk performed well and had the respect of his peers but not from management.
“This speaks to his lack of respect and confidence that upper management had in him still after all he had done,” JR continued. “After working with the Undertaker for example. I don’t remember Taker having one issue working with Punk. Rey Mysterio had no issues working with Punk.”
Ross continued to say the only negative words he heard about Punk was that he was a “different breed of a cat” and not overly extroverted.
“He was not an ass-kisser and because that was so contrary to the normal behavior of a top guy in any wrestling territory that I’ve ever been in, any of them, he was just a different breed of cat and folks did not know how to deal with him, simple as that.”
“He didn’t have the support of the front office that he should have had, and that’s really, really sad,” Ross continued.
JR and Conrad Thompson’s comments regarding Punk and WWE can be heard in the player below:
