CM Punk has clarified his statements made this week about a potential return to pro wrestling.
On Wednesday, Punk spoke with Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting to promote his welterweight bout against Mike Jackson at the upcoming UFC 225 pay-per-view event on Saturday, June 9, 2018, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
In that interview, Punk addressed potentially appearing at All In in September and if he would return to wrestling. The former WWE Champion stated that “it’s not happening” regarding appearing at All In.
He would go on to say that, “Nobody has ever asked me, like straight up asked me, to come wrestle for them. Nobody.” Punk added, “[People have said] hey, if you ever wanna do anything… Nobody’s ever been like, ‘hey, here’s the deal, we’re having a show, we’re paying you X amount and you’re working this guy. Whaddaya say, yes or no?’ Nobody’s ever done that.”
This led to a lot of fans speculating that if someone did make him an actual offer then he might consider returning to the squared circle.
Fast forward to Thursday (June 7, 2018), Punk clarified his position about a potential return while speaking with Aaron Bronsteter of TSN during media day.
“Yesterday, I said a bunch of stuff about wrestling and how I never got a true offer, this doesn’t mean that I want to wrestle. I’m done with professional wrestling. A lot of people want to be mad at me about that, make fun of me for losing my first fight and that’s fine because you are entitled to your own opinion but you don’t own me and I am entitled to do what I want to do.”
He went on to say that wrestling is in the rearview mirror for him and has been trying to do that for the past five years but some people don’t want to let go. He added that he understands that wrestlers come and go from retirement but this is his head space now [in MMA].
https://twitter.com/aaronbronsteter/status/1004762588624891904
After dealing with injuries and not wanting to wrestle anymore, Punk decided to take time off the sports entertainment company on the Monday following the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event in 2014. He would later be served with his termination papers from WWE on his wedding day later that year.
Since he departed from the WWE, fans have wanted to see Punk compete in the squared circle again. Instead, he took his talents to the world famous Octagon in the UFC.
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