The following is an excerpt of a new interview with TNA President Dixie Carter from The Independent.

In the excerpt below, Dixie explains why she won’t make a play to try and sign CM Punk right now.

“CM Punk’s in a place right now where he’s happy and I wouldn’t attempt to try to get him to come wrestle for us until he’s in a place where he wants to wrestle. I respect what he’s done so much, he was in my opinion at the top of his game, and it’s hard walking away from a big paycheck, but he did it. You wouldn’t want to ask him to walk to a new paycheck until his head is in the right place.”

The following are highlights of a new Busted Open Radio interview with WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:

CM Punk’s Money Issues With WWE: 

“It was nothing I haven’t heard before as head of talent relations. There was a guy named Stone Cold, you might remember him who was gone for 8 months. He was angry over creative and money; he had a lot of negative things going on in his life and he needed a break, but he didn’t know how to create that break and we didn’t either; and it blew up. He went home and I remember sitting in my office. I sent him a card that said, “If you ever need to talk, I’m here for you.” He wasn’t going to call WWE; so he calls me, and I broker a meeting with Steve and Vince in Houston. And both of them wanted me to come to the meeting and I refused, because it needed to be the two of them, unfiltered and express themselves without an audience, I didn’t need to be there so I didn’t go. But they talked it out, they talked it through, and saw each other’s point of views, and Steve came back, made the company a lot of money, and WWE made good money and had a good ending except for a mother nature and the injuries.”

“The whole CM Punk situation is a lot of miscommunication. It should have been addressed earlier. You can’t read a talents mind to see if they’re upset. WWE has a lot on their plate. And I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault, but at the end of the day the whole thing should have been addressed earlier, rather than be left as an open wound. I’m a CM Punk Wrestling Fan. I like Phil Brooks the guy. I haven’t talked to him one time, but he might put me as a “Wrestling Guy” although I’m more than a wrestling guy. I don’t wish him ill will and I’m not taking up for WWE. I’m not taking up for Phil. It’s just very unfortunate because they both needed each other in the world of pro wrestling.”

How The WWE Locker Room Reacted To Punk’s Podcast:

“I wish I could defend that answer and if I was there, I could do that, but you will find that in any other locker room. I heard Ray Lewis endorse Ray Rice…then you’ll have other guys who don’t want him on his team. You won’t find a unanimous decision on anything; which is why wrestlers won’t ever form a union. They can’t even form what they want to have for lunch or even stop for lunch when their on the road.”

“Trust isn’t a big prominent thing in pro wrestling because they know their shelf-lives are short. Some guys will be very leery of trusting Phil because he brought up one of his own and shined unflattering light on Ryback, without any knowledge and based off how he looks. There will be a lot of guys alienated from that statement. Phil won’t care because he washed his hands of it. The guys who were Phil’s friends would probably just leave it alone. I think the whole thing could’ve been avoided if the problem was identified by both parties. The locker room is a very cruel place; and guys will lie to stir up a hornets nest especially when it comes to money; say a guy gets $50,000 for a PPV and they usually say they got $100,000 just to stir it up.”

“I had a talent come up to me and said that I screwed him on his PPV pay out and I said ‘based on what’ and “I know guys that made double than what I made” and I knew that wasn’t true. So I made him tell me who it was and then I sent somebody after that person bring him into my office and said “Here’s the deal did wrestler A tell wrestler B make a 100 grand on the last PPV?” Silence. Then the wrestler said “I was kidding he should know I was kidding.” The locker room is a very cold place at times and it’s not the warm fuzzy all for one, one for all situations. Everybody wants the spot and there is only one big money spot. If this were the old territories days I would try to get Phil as a booker. He has a great mind and he has a great desire for the product and I could relate to that but the problem is there are no territories to book.”

Wrestlers Being Featured In The Main Events Earning More Money;

“Back in the Attitude Era, everybody couldn’t be in the Main Event. They contributed to the success, but they can’t go on last. If you believe that you’re only the Main Event if you go on last, that’s not applicable, especially at WrestleMania and in my view, and I am a Undertaker mark and when that streak got going. It had more cache than the titles did because the titles weren’t hot. The title didn’t have the strong enough personal issue. I booked Austin in a tag match in LA and he calls me and complains about being in a tag team match and he said “I didn’t work my ass off to be someone else’s tag partner.”

“So you’re saying you want to work a tag match in LA. I have the greatest power in world and that was an eraser. Okay now you are not in a tag match. All I’m saying is that the CM Punk situation unraveled and people didn’t re-gather it and Phil made his mind up and when you feel your body is starting to give up on you and your physically hurting, you and your self-esteem starts to get hammered and depression starts to come in. I wasn’t there for the meetings but I just feel very badly because Phil Brooks deserves to be, if that’s what he wants, in the last match at WrestleMania. That might not happened but never say never.”

“The second thing, when you’re using formulaic paying system that has been in the business for over 40 years, it’s essentially the same formula that has been in the business for all the territories. You are splitting up money and you are always going to have guys that are not happy with their pay off. I never had any talent say “Hey JR that was a great pay off for that last run and I really appreciate it.” I had tons of guys come up to me to talk about their pay offs. I said this on my podcast about the Hardy Boys and Bubba Ray Dudley coming to me about their TLC match saying they feel they were under paid for match. I went back to the Vince and he said” how you feel about it” and I went back to review it and I changed the pay off. Those guys had a hell of a match.”

• HUGE Update On Backstage Reaction To CM Punk Interview w/ Very DETAILED & SPECIFIC Stories

WWE Superstar Ryback was interviewed this week on the Zach McCrite Show for Oklahoma City’s Franchise 107.7 Sports Radio.

Ryback fired back at CM Punk for his comments on Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast last week after Punk accused him of taking steroids and intentionally breaking his ribs.

Check out the related articles below for much more on the fallout of CM Punk’s pipebomb podcast:

• Detailed Backstage Update On The Reaction To CM Punk’s Controversial Interview
• AUDIO: Part Two Of CM Punk On Colt Cabana’s “Art Of Wrestling” Podcast
• Jim Ross Blogs About CM Punk’s Pipebomb Podcast
• Colt Cabana Explains Why CM Punk Told His Story, Cabana Mocks WWE, More
• WWE Reaction To CM Punk Interview, Vince McMahon Unhappy, Triple H Furious
• Ryback Blasts CM Punk On Twitter, Deletes Tweets
• WWE Employee Argues With Fans On Twitter Over CM Punk Interview Comments
• Ryback Reacts To CM Punk Calling Him A Roided-Up Dumb F*ck

It’s here!

As promised, part two of CM Punk on Colt Cabana’s “Art of Wrestling” podcast is now online.

Check out the entire audio of the interview, which runs nearly an hour and a half, via the Soundcloud player above.

As we reported recently, CM Punk’s appearance on Colt Cabana’s “Art of Wrestling” podcast had a lot of people within WWE upset, particularly executives such as Triple H and Vince McMahon. It’s said that while most everyone kept quiet about it in public, outside of guys like Ryback and Brian “BG” James, that most, if not all WWE talents loved a lot of the stuff that Punk had to say about WWE.

On the flip-side of the coin, however, a lot of people in the company were said to be unhappy with Punk complaining about the way he was booked, due to their feeling that he was booked better than almost everyone outside of a very select few talents over the past several years.

The feeling among some is that while Punk complained about having to put over part-time guys like The Rock, Undertaker and Brock Lesnar, they would have loved to of been in that position.

One particular WWE Superstar, who is said to be a top guy, felt that much of the Punk interview came off as “sour grapes.”

Others in the company apparently felt that Punk came off bad complaining about being booked to work against Triple H at WrestleMania XXX, with their feeling being that it would be positioned as one of the very top matches on the show, with plenty of television time to promote it during the build-up to the show.

While some agreed with the “two sides to every story” cliche’, there was also said to be a general consensus that what Punk said about his experiences in WWE is the same way many others would describe theirs as well, outside of the fact that Punk made more money than most, but that they admired the guts it took to say all that he did in a public forum.

Regardless of whether or not talents agreed with all that Punk had to say during the already infamous interview, almost everyone was said to be aware of the fact that agreeing with him publicly would be nothing short of career suicide unless it was done by one of the very few “untouchable guys.”

– John Cena tweeted the following on Wednesday in reaction to Steve Austin’s podcast interview with Vince McMahon from Monday night on the WWE Network:

The #StoneColdPodcast w/ @VinceMcMahon was legit. Agree with @steveaustinBSR that it's time 2 step up, WWE. #WWENetwork

— John Cena (@JohnCena) December 3, 2014

– The cast for the new James Bond film will be officially announced this Thursday. As previously reported, former WWE Superstar Dave Bautista has been in discussions for a major role in the film.

– Challenger Comics in Chicago announced that former WWE champion CM Punk will be signing at their store on 2/28/15. Punk will be there to promote his comic book writing debut for Marvel Comics, Thor Annual #1.

Former WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio recently sat down with the folks at WrestleTalk TV for an in-depth “shoot” style interview.

During the discussion, Del Rio spoke about CM Punk walking out on WWE.

“He went from driving 1000 miles to get 30 dollars, and he made it to the big stage,” said Del Rio. “But there was one day he wasn’t happy what was going on.”

The former WWE Champion also recalled how Punk’s walk-out affected him on the night that it happened.

“I had a match with Kofi Kingston that night for Raw, and it was only to be eight minutes,” said Del Rio. “[Referee] Mike Chioda approached me and said ‘We need for you to do another 14 minutes.'”

“He’s a guy that believes what he’s saying, what he’s thinking, and because of that he has all of the respect in the world (from me),” said Del Rio of Punk.

You can check out an excerpt from the interview where Del Rio discusses Punk’s WWE departure above.

• VIDEO: Dana White/UFC Finally Make Their “Historic Announcement” — Find Out What It Is …..

The following are highlights of the latest blog by WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:

On Vince McMahon addressing CM Punk during Steve Austin Show: “Was happy that VKM addressed the hot topic of the CM Punk matter and was surprised about the apology he made to Punk about getting his legal paperwork on Punk and AJ’s wedding day. Seems as if the door is open to resume talks some day if both parties are of that mindset. Punk’s overwhelming desire to close the show at a WrestleMania is admirable and if any one in the locker room doesn’t have that same goal every day of their professional life then they need to find another line of work.”

On dead crowd for RAW in Tulsa: “Thought Tulsa crowd could have helped out a little more. Perhaps they did and it merely didn’t come across well on TV.”

On the team of Cesaro and Tyson Kidd: “Something drew my eye to the team of Cesaro and Tyson Kidd as I think that both men are ‘this close’ to being in a spot to where they can better help WWE. Agreed with VKM that Cesaro needs to enhance his personality a bit but his physical skills are special. Being on Total Divas has helped Kidd gain confidence in utilizing his personality.”

Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.

The following is a detailed recap of Vince McMahon on Steve Austin’s podcast from Monday night, courtesy of PWInsider.com:

Austin welcomed Vince to the podcast,which is on the Network. Austin asked him how the Network was doing and Vince said it was doing great both from a subscription and a content standpoint. Austin asked him about the UK and Vince said it’s been a stop/start thing and they hope to have it wrapped up by the first of the year, but noted that wasn’t a promise.’

Austin asked him how in tune Vince was with the wrestling fans right now. Vince said that they don’t do wrestling but sports-entertainment. Vince said that not every match is going to “hit” and no one else does the content weekly that they do and then broadcast it worldwide. Austin said he’d like to see more in-ring over the course of the show and asked Vince if he’s wrong in wanting too much wrestling. Austin said that sometimes the early segments take too long. Vince acknowledged that and said that you do have to give the audience a hook or they won’t care about the matches.

Austin said that there are no other big leagues for other talents to go to and there are talents who are walking on eggshells afraid to do anything. Vince said, “Well don’t piss anyone off.” Vince said that there isn’t as much camaraderie and silliness backstage as there was in Austin’s era. Vince said the last guy to really try and reach for the brass ring was John Cena. He sees potential in Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns but they aren’t there yet. He said the talents don’t do what Austin did. Austin challenged the roster to take chances and try to get over. Vince said the roster is thin and he wants to see guys do it as well.

Vince was asked what he was looking for in Superstars. Vince said he’s looking for someone who’s hungry and wants to learn and keep learning every day. Austin told a story about a wrestler getting a bigger than usual pop at MSG and Austin pointed it out to Vince and Vince said that he hoped that person got over. That told Austin it wasn’t just Vince with a magic wand but Vince hoping guys took the reigns.

Austin asked why Cesaro hasn’t clicked yet. Vince said that perhaps it’s because he’s Swiss but he hasn’t shown the charisma but Vince hopes he does/ Austin pointed out that the momentum was lost for him via the booking and Vince said he doesn’t have all the answers and Cesaro isn’t being given up on.

Austin talked about the Creative Team and how different it was from the days of Vince working from his pool. Austin asked why creative got so complicated. Vince said that the company grew in leaps and bounds and went public and it’s not going to be a one man show. Vince said he can’t do it all and joked that he used to work Pat Patterson to the bone. He talked about how when people would come by his house, they’d end up in the pool because Vince loves ribs and described it being one of the funniest things in the world. Vince said you have to have fun to make fun. Austin told a story about Shane tossing Vince in the pool.

Austin asked where Shane McMahon is. Vince said he’s a happy camper and has his hands in a lot of pots. He said Shane’s departure was something of a mutual thing. He said being a family in business is difficult. Vince said he tried to do what was right for business. Vince said his dad didn’t want him in the business and he wanted his kids to do what they wanted to do.

Vince told the story of an announcer holding his father up for money and his father refusing, then deciding Vince would be the announcer with no experience, “and you’re going to do a good job.” Vince gave him a partner and it was Arnold Skaaland.

Skaaland was a man of few words so Vince asked him father for someone else to help him. There were a number of individuals who helped him.

Austin asked him if he wanted to talk about CM Punk. Vince said he wanted to personally apologize for him getting his termination papers on his wedding day. He said that in a company their side, the different areas of the company didn’t know what was going on. He said that he didn’t want to go through dirty laundry. Vince said there have been others who were disgruntled and they said things they later regretted and he hoped they would one day work together again. Vince said he didn’t listen to the Colt Cabana interview but heard Punk used a lot of expletives and things were said that were his side of things. He said that he had issues with Austin and Hulk Hogan but they eventually came back. Vince said he was willing to work with Punk again and admits that he has a big ego, but is willing to put it aside and work with him down the line. Vince later said Punk worked really hard for the company.

Austin talked about working with Vince and being in a similar situation. Vince said Austin was difficult to work with at times. They talked about Austin walking out when he was asked to put over Brock Lesnar, Austin said he was hard-headed and never returned Vince’s calls. Finally, Jim Ross sent him a card in the mail and offered to talk with Steve anytime Ross put them back in touch. Austin asked if there was someone who could bridge the gap between Vince and Punk. Vince said that unfortunately there is not and Punk is pretty much a loner and has a lack of communication. Vince said that when attorneys get involved it’s going to “hell in a handbasket.”

Austin told a story about Vince fining him $650,000 when he returned. Vince then told him what he thought was fair. He settled on $250,000. Vince said when you walk out, not on the company but the fans you have to do something or else the next time you don’t like the creative, you walk out again.

Vince said that Austin had the communications, perhaps not with Vince but with others and Punk was a loner. Vince admitted he himself can be introverted and shy and he understands it and talked about feeling uncomfortable when he was at political events for his wife and would often find himself talking to the bartender, who was more his kind of people.

Austin talked about watching The Undertaker losing at Wrestlemania. He asked about the background of ending the streak. Vince said that no one wants to give back to the business more than Mark Calaway. He said that it was time and when you look down the line on who he could work with, who else was it going to be. There was no one else it could be. He said that Brock was the one person that Mark felt was the guy. Austin challenged him and Vince admitted he made the decision to end the Streak.

Austin asked Vince why Brock Lesnar isn’t around more. Vince said you don’t want him around more, because he’s a special attraction.

Vince said Randy Savage would absolutely be in the WWE Hall of Fame. He said it would be soon but not perhaps this year. Austin cornered him and made Vince say yes.

On Sting, Vince McMahon said he made a great impression but he’s the type of character you don’t need to see every week but “I think you’ll see him at Wrestlemania.” Austin said that when he was hot, he was on every show and Vince said the business has changed and some of it is contracts.

They talk about the Monday Night War. Vince said he always felt WWE was more passionate and WCW having talent in charge of their own creative created chaos. Austin said they don’t have any real competition and Vince said that they compete with everything on TV. He said they and WCW were burning so hot and it was a question of who was going to burn out first. Vince always kept ideas in huis pocket. He said all the WCW issues eventually wore them down.

Continue reading on Page 2 Below: Vince talks about expanding the WWF in the 80’s, Jim Ross, the Austin-McMahon feud & more –

For those who have asked whether or not CM Punk was watching the “Steve Austin Show” interview with Vince McMahon — which included McMahon publicly apologizing to Punk for firing him on the day of his wedding — while it was happening live on Monday night, the former WWE Superstar made it clear in an indirect fashion that he was not.

While the interview was airing live on the WWE Network, Punk posted the following tweet, indicating that he was watching an NHL game as the Austin-McMahon show was airing.

This Habs/Avs game is bonkers. St. Patrick!!!!

— player/coach (@CMPunk) December 2, 2014

Whether or not Punk has watched the show since remains to be seen, however we will likely find out soon enough, as he is scheduled to return to Colt Cabana’s “Art of Wrestling” podcast for a Q&A with fans as part of a follow-up to his initial interview on the show, where he explained — in great detail — his departure from WWE.

Former WWE Superstar CM Punk has launched his own official online t-shirt store at ProWrestlingTees.com. Below is a photo of some of the initial designs for Punk’s t-shirts that are available.

Speaking of Punk, it’s said that there are many within WWE who are curious to see how the company decides to handle responding to his recent interview on Colt Cabana’s “Art of Wrestling” podcast.

As noted earlier today, WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin mentioned in a new WWE.com interview that he plans on asking Vince McMahon about the Punk situation during their live sit-down interview on the WWE Network tonight immediately following RAW.

Last week during his now infamous podcast interview with Colt Cabana, CM Punk implied that Chris Jericho was one of the people who had reached out to him attempting to get him to break his silence on Jericho’s podcast. Jericho has since reacted to Punk’s comments with this video.

Jericho says that he’s always considered Punk a friend, one of his closest friends in the business over the past few years. Jericho denies that he tried getting Punk on his podcast after he walked out of WWE, revealing that he did try to get Punk on the show last December, but Punk turned him down at the time because he was burned out and didn’t have anything to say about the wrestling business at the time.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has posted a lengthy blog update at JRsBarBQ.com with his thoughts on CM Punk’s now infamous podcast interview with Colt Cabana, Steve Austin interviewing Vince McMahon after RAW live on the WWE Network and more. It’s worth noting that Ross says he has not yet listened to the Punk podcast, but is reacting to what he’s heard about it.

Here are some highlights of what he said about:

CM Punk’s Podcast Interview With Colt Cabana:

“Often times it is better for the talent to be given a leave of absence to allow feelings to become less emotional and bodies to heal. However, as always evaluating an issue of this magnitude in hindsight is generally 20/20. I don’t know how all the internal conversations went between Punk and WWE. We’ve heard only one side of the story thus far …”

“Its also very important for any company to pay  close attention to all talents and it’s also a fact that all talents can’t be treated the same because all people are different. The wrestling business breeds paranoia and a variety of insecurities much like Hollywood actors and many athletes because the nature of their genres generally have shorter shelf lives as it relates to one’s career. In other words, managing a talent roster in any pro wrestling company is and always has been a 24/7 proposition.  I can tell you that it was the most emotionally draining, exhausting and stressful job that I ever had. It affected my health but I was blessed that it did not adversely affect my marriage. I’m a lucky man in that department.”

Steve Austin Interviewing Vince McMahon After RAW: 

“Mr. McMahon and the Rattlesnake had magical chemistry and a competitive rivalry that went well beyond the bell to bell action. Steve’s proud of his podcast that can be found with my Ross Report on Podcast One and I don’t think he would leave his Texas ranch to fly to Tulsa, Oklahoma to lob softballs to the Chairman of WWE. I fully expect Steve to address the Punk situation with McMahon. Vince rarely dodges any major issue in this sort of forum and Austin has become a great interviewer so I have extremely high expectations for this piece of business. I know that I will be watching and that’s after sitting through another three hour RAW.

Seeing Austin and McMahon doing business together Monday night will be nostalgic and, at one time years ago, would have seemed unlikely but the two of them finally communicated, addressed each other’s issues and then made more history in WWE that may never be rivaled.”

There is much more to the blog, including Jim Ross’ thoughts on how WWE manages the talent roster and the upcoming NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 9 pay-per-view.

With “Stone Cold” Steve Austin interviewing WWE Chairman Vince McMahon for his “Steve Austin Show” live on the WWE Network immediately following tonight’s “Cyber Monday” edition of RAW, the official WWE website caught up with the WWE Hall Of Famer to ask him a few questions regarding tonight’s big podcast.

Jim Ross Blog: CM Punk’s Pipebomb Podcast, Austin Interviewing Vince

Below are highlights of the WWE.com interview.

WWE.COM: Now that you’re entering people’s eardrums with your podcast every week, chatter about your in-ring return has reached a fever pitch. Is there any part of you that wishes the rumors would die down?

AUSTIN: That’s all just chatter, because you never hear me on the podcast selling myself in a match. Hulk Hogan’s trying to stir a matchup, calling me a coward. A lot of what I say breaks over into the mainstream, but I don’t ever want to sell a match that I cannot deliver, because I wouldn’t be living up to my word.

WWE.COM: Point blank, is there any chance we’ll see the black trunks and black boots anytime in the near or distant future?

AUSTIN: As we speak right now, no.

WWE.COM: What is the one thing you want Mr. McMahon to have to answer on your live podcast on WWE Network?

AUSTIN: Nothing is off limits. There’s a line that I won’t cross, but that’s for my standards — nothing that WWE has told me. There are many things I’d like to ask him. I’d like to know what’s going on with CM Punk. I’d like to know how Daniel Bryan’s health is. I’d like to know whose idea it was in Atlanta [that made me] take my ball and go home in 2002. I reacted the worst way possible, but I want to know who came up with that masterpiece of an idea. Guys like me come along very seldom in the wrestling business. You can count ’em on a couple of fingers.

• AUDIO: *MORE* From CM Punk’s SHOOT Against WWE, SHOCKING Comments!

Above is a video of a backstage interview that the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings’ in-arena host, Carrlyn Bathe, conducted with notorious Chicago Blackhawks fan and former WWE Superstar CM Punk during the Kings vs. Blackhawks game on November 29th at the Staples Center.

Also featured in the clip is the Los Angeles Kings’ team mascot, Bailey The Lion.

– Ryback vs. Kane in a “Chairs Match” is now official for the upcoming WWE TLC pay-per-view. The only other officially confirmed match for the pay-per-view at this point is Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt in a TLC match.

– Mick Foley tweeted Colt Cabana regarding his recent interview with CM Punk. You can check out Foley’s comments to Cabana, as well as Cabana’s response below.

@realmickfoley its not about landing anything Mick… It's about giving my friend a safe place to talk. I'm not competing with anyone.

— Colt Cabana? (@ColtCabana) November 29, 2014

– Colt Cabana sent out the following to those on his official mailing list, explaining why CM Punk decided to finally tell his story to the public.

“Punk has had this incredible story basically kept to himself for a long time now. There’s been so many people bugging and pushing and intruding. I hope this gives HIM closure & I hope it gives YOU closure.”

– Also, as noted recently, WWE is said to have added Cabana to their “sh*t list” as a result of the Punk interview situation, to which Cabana responded by tweeting the following on Friday morning:

WWE removed ALL Scotty Goldman content off the network!!!!

Update: whoops, it was never on there.

— Colt Cabana? (@ColtCabana) November 28, 2014

• PART 2: MORE From The 2-Hour Long CM Punk SHOCKING Podcast Interview [MUST-HEAR >>]

While it should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody who actually heard the interview, the Colt Cabana “Art of Wrestling” podcast with CM Punk earlier this week has been the talk of the locker room in WWE since it first appeared on the internet.

The general consensus is that virtually everyone within WWE — most notably the talent themselves — thought it was one of the greatest things ever.

It’s widely known within WWE that in certain circles, CM Punk is well-liked, while in others, which is a big much bigger circle, by the way, everyone — fans and detractors of Punk — all thoroughly enjoyed the interview.

The key reason that everyone was in favor of Punk’s appearance on the show was because whether you like him or not, he pointed out — in what is said by many to be in very honest fashion — many issues that the current pool of talent within WWE deal with, and have dealt with, for quite a while. Many are said to be afraid to speak up about many of the issues that Punk touched on, but universally applauded him for having the gull to do so without any fear of repercussions.

The reason of Vince McMahon himself was said to be not as bad as you would think. While McMahon is notorious for “no-selling” issues that do in fact bother him, the general consensus was that while he wasn’t pleased with Punk for many of the comments he made, to say the least, he wasn’t as over-the-top angry or upset as two other key WWE high-ranking executives.

Those executives are none other than Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.

Triple H was said to be outraged and furious, and according to one person close to the situation, outright said he “wants to kill CM Punk.”

While this is likely a moot point, as Punk himself made it clear during the podcast that he has no desire to return to the world of professional wrestling, much-less WWE, that he is on one of those unofficial “banned for life” lists.

Some people believe that while Vince McMahon is still alive and in complete control of the company, anything is possible in terms of being willing to bring Punk back one day, however, those same people are under the belief that when and if it becomes up to Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, Punk has no chance whatsoever at stepping foot back onto a WWE television, or non-televised program, for that matter.

Continue reading this story by clicking below to advance to page two …

Nearly ten months after his final appearance for WWE, CM Punk finally addressed the circumstances behind his departure from the sports-entertainment organization in an explosive two-hour interview with Colt Cabana on the Art of Wrestling podcast. On Figure Four Daily on F4WOnline.com on Friday, Bryan Alvarez offered insight on the reaction around WWE to the former Superstar’s controversial remarks (click here to listen).

Even with Punk having a number of detractors in WWE, Alvarez was told that virtually everybody in WWE who listened to the podcast “thought it was awesome.”

Alvarez said, “Now if you know CM Punk, CM Punk is a guy who has his lovers—maybe that’s the wrong word—he has his fans, and he has his detractors. There’s a group of people in WWE who are big fans of CM Punk, and there are people in WWE who just can’t stand the guy. When he left, I heard from people that were like, ‘Thank God this guy has left! He drove us crazy. He was so angry.’ When he did his podcast with Colt Cabana, he admitted that at the end, he was actually sorry for how many times he told people to fuck off. When it happened, I had been told from people that he was so miserable, he was such as a crabby individual, they were glad he was finally gone out of the locker room because they couldn’t handle him anymore. Now with that said, the impression that I got was, even people who did not like CM Punk, even people who really thought he was a miserable guy and were not CM Punk’s fans in the slightest, they were fans of a lot of the stuff that he talked about in the podcast.”

He continued, “It is true, there are a lot of guys in the company who are afraid to speak out, they’re afraid to say anything, they’re afraid to approach management, they’re afraid to ask questions, and CM Punk got a lot of that out in the podcast. And he opened a lot of people’s eyes that didn’t know anything about what goes on internally in WWE. So there were even people that don’t like CM Punk and don’t want him back in the company, who are happy that he did this podcast and said everything that he said.”

Alvarez said Vince McMahon is upset with Punk, but he’s not “fuming.” With the WWE Network airing a live “Stone Cold” Steve Austin podcast with the WWE Chairman and CEO immediately following Raw next Monday, Alvarez was told that it is very unlikely that he will talk about the matter in-depth. If he does, the feeling is that he will offer a “corporate answer.”

Paul “Triple H” Levesque was among those hit the hardest in Punk’s two-hour long speech as The Straight Edge Superstar addressed his issues with the WWE executive throughout the show. During his meeting with Levesque and McMahon that led to his exit from WWE, Punk went off on Levesque for not putting him over in 2011 when he was riding high on the momentum from his infamous “pipe bomb” promo in Las Vegas, Nevada. Upon being told by McMahon that he would be wrestling Levesque in a ‘main event’ at WrestleMania 30, Punk recalled turning to Hunter to say, ‘All due respect, I do not need to wrestle you, you need to wrestle me. I do not want to wrestle you. I seriously resent you for not putting me over three years ago when you should have. That would have been best for business but you had to fucking come in and squash it. And then I had to lose to fucking Truth and Miz. It didn’t make any business sense then, it doesn’t make any business sense now, and I am in a position now where I can tell you that I don’t have to nor do I want to wrestle you at WrestleMania. I don’t care if I was supposed to win.'”

Punk then noted, “Which I was. I didn’t care. I didn’t want to give him the fucking privilege. I said a lot of shit in there. I told them again and Hunter, he was gritting his teeth and I knew… he never liked me. It’s one of those situations where you always hear those stories in the dirt sheets about ‘Hunter says this about Punk’ and all this negative stuff but me and him in a room together? Never any good vibes. Always negative, the way he would always look sideways at me, the way he always treated me.”

According to Alvarez, Levesque is furious with Punk over his remarks. He said he received a text message from a person in WWE reading ‘Triple H wants to kill Punk.'”

Alvarez added that Levesque, as well his wife, Stephanie McMahon, have ‘an abject hatred’ for Punk. He is also considered to be on their no-call list.

WWE officials are also extremely unhappy with Cabana. Cabana, who was being courted by the organization for an announcing role as recently as last year. He is said to be on their “shitlist.”

See GIF of Ryback’s botch dropping CM Punk on concrete

Ryback has again responded to former WWE Superstar CM Punk’s “slander” of him in an explosive two-hour interview with Colt Cabana on the “Art of Wrestling” podcast that was released Thursday (listen here).

Ryback wrote on Twitter on Friday afternoon, “Last message on this. I will tell the truth about @CMPunk comments in due time. Not once did he ever confront me. Let’s all move on. Thank u.”

Beginning at 51:50 in the interview, Punk griped about his experience working with Ryback, who he labeled a dangerous worker and steroid user. Punk said wrestling Ryback “took twenty years off my fucking life” and blamed him for injuring him on multiple occasions.

“I’m already beat up and I have to wrestle steroid guy,” Punk said as he recalled being asked to work a program with Ryback in the fall of 2012 since management felt he could carry him in matches. “I call it like I see it. He’s very hurty, sometimes deliberate. There was one time he kicked me in the stomach as hard he could and he broke my ribs, right at the tail end. I never got an apology for that. He was something else. A real piece of work that guy.”

Later in interview, Punk took a jab at Triple H for failing to elevate Curtis Axel after promising he would. Punk offered to work with the third-generation wrestler, but WWE officials ignored his request. Instead, he was continuously booked in matches with Ryback—now paired with Paul Heyman—who he had requested to management to not to work with. Punk later agrees to work with him and gets injured in an encounter at Night of Champions.

“I go up to Ryan [Ryback’s real name] and I go, ‘Hey man, clean slate. Let’s fucking kill this. Let’s fucking show them that you’re better than they think you are. Let’s show them I’m better than they think I am and let’s turn this mid-card shit into a fucking main event,” said Punk.

Imitating Ryback’s voice, “‘Yeah, I’m really excited, blah, blah, blah.'”

Punk recalled, “First night out, Gorilla Press through a table…fucking misses the table. Dumps me on the concrete fucking ground. Tilts my fucking pelvis, fucks me up for weeks.”

Punk said he later asked Ryback if he hurt him on purpose or if he’s “dumb as fuck.”

He continued to Cabana, “I’m compensating because my knee is still fucked, both my knees, you know what I mean? The one I just had surgery on six months ago and the one that was fucking torn up and I refused to have surgery on. I just wanted to rehab it, which I did. And now it’s at the point where I walk up to him and I go, ‘You can’t tell me you didn’t do that on purpose because you’ve done it so many times now. You either tell me right now you’re dumb as fuck and you suck, or you did it on purpose. And he was like, ‘I’m dumb as fuck. I’m sorry.'”

Punk said, “At that point, there was nothing I could do. In my mind it was like, ‘Great. Fuck, there’s nothing I can do.'”

“The Big Guy” fired back at Punk on Twitter with an image of an action figure diorama before saying, “For the record if I quit for being fragile and insecure I would make up excuses too,” Ryback wrote. “Things didn’t go my way for a long time and I kept going day in and out. Slander is a powerful thing and to state complete made up nonsense for no reason shows his insecurities. I will continue to bust my ass study matches every chance I get, cut promos when driving and push myself for hours on end even when hurt. Thank you.”

See GIF of Ryback’s botch dropping CM Punk on concrete

Ryback posted the following statement on Twitter in response to CM Punk’s negative comments towards him:

“For the record if I quit for being fragile and insecure I would make up excuses too. Things didn’t go my way for a long time and I kept going day in and out. Slander is a powerful thing and to state complete made up nonsense for no reason shows his insecurities. I will continue to bust my ass study matches every chance I get, cut promos when driving and push myself for hours on end even when hurt. Thank you”

The tweets were later deleted.

Ryback Reacts To CM Punk Calling Him A Roided-Up Dumb F*ck

WWE issued a statement Thursday night to Yahoo! Sports in response to an article highlighting CM Punk’s criticism of the sports-entertainment organization’s medical tactics in a podcast interview.

“WWE takes the health and wellness of its talent very seriously and has a comprehensive Talent Wellness Program that is led by one of the most well-respected physicians in the country, Dr. Joseph Maroon,” the statement reads.

Nearly ten months after his final appearance for WWE, Punk finally addressed the circumstances behind his departure from the sports-entertainment organization in an explosive two-hour interview with Colt Cabana on the “Art of Wrestling” podcast (click here to listen).

During the interview, Punk said the main reason he left the company was because of his health. He was particularly critical of Dr. Chris Amann, WWE’s Senior Ringside Physician, who misdiagnosed an MRSA infection he had on his back for months as a “fatty deposit.” A doctor with no affiliation to WWE who examined Punk said he could have died from it.

Prior to this, Punk said he was pressured on more than one occasion by WWE officials to return to action while injured.

“I got a concussion in the Royal Rumble,” Punk said, referring to the 2014 match. “It’s pretty godd*** obvious. I knew I had a concussion. Everyone knew I had a concussion. And they were like we want you to take this test and I said your test is bull***. I took the test while texting you [Colt Cabana] and listening to my headphones and I “passed” with flying colors. But then they were like we want you to go to the ring and run the ropes. And I was like but I just passed your test and they were like yeah, but we still think you have a concussion. I was like so your test is worthless. I’m not going out in the f****** ring like a two-week rookie to run the ropes in front of everybody. Let’s just call it [a concussion] now.”

Punk was also pressured to wrestle just as he was to begin rehab from elbow surgery. He recalled, “I remember when I was supposed to go back to Birmingham and get cleared before I came back to wrestle from my elbow. One day I was just at TV and it was the same thing … I’ll probably just cut a promo and then Michael Hayes comes up to me and goes, “Alright, you’re working so and so,” and I was like no I’m not. I just got this laser eye surgery and I don’t want anyone f****** up my eyes. And he’s like you really should have told somebody, and I was like told them what … my elbow! And he goes no, I just checked and they said you’re cleared. I was like I haven’t even gone to Birmingham to see Dr. [James] Andrews yet, what do you mean I’m cleared? I talked to Dr. [Chris] Amann and Dr. Amann was like I called him [Dr. Andrews] and I told him how you were and he said OK and he cleared you. I was like what kind of witch doctory bull**** is that? Like I’m going to go see him before I f****** wrestle. Book that s***, I’m not wrestling tonight.”

Punk noted that he would forward to undergoing surgery just so he could get some time off from WWE’s strenuous road schedule.

Ryback responds to CM Punk ripping him

For the first time since bolting from WWE in January, CM Punk publicly addressed the circumstances behind his departure from the sports-entertainment organization in an explosive two-hour interview with Colt Cabana on the “Art of Wrestling” podcast. (Listen Here)

Punk spoke extensively on Vince McMahon and Triple H as he went after them on issues relating to creative direction and mismanagement. Brian “Road Dogg” James, who works behind-the-scenes for WWE, argued with fans criticizing the company on Twitter Thursday night after the interview came out.

After a fan James follows on Twitter wrote, “Fuck you Vince. Fuck you Hunter.” James responded, “You only hear one side of the story!” After the fan said what Punk revealed about McMahon and Hunter made him angry, James said, “I understand that but are you sure you have all of the facts? There are always 2 sides to every story. Just to be clear, I don’t know the truth either! I just know how these stories get told around our industry.”

James then had lengthy exchange with a fan expressing his unhappiness with Punk feeling unhappy and mistreated behind-the-scenes in WWE. This fan wrote to James, “I hope no one else is holding those emotions inside & not speaking up about it.” James responded, “It’s crazy but do you always get treated perfectly at work? It’s a team and we need team players, everyone can’t win!”

The fan then wrote, “Never was a big Punk mark, but seems like he was very unhappy & mistreated behind the scenes.” James wrote back, “How was he “mistreated”? After the fan said “just his words,” James wrote, “I get it, but you just asked me if anyone else was being “mistreated” so I was interested as to what he meant by that.”

The fan then said, “Well, from what I heard, he was beat up & needed a break that he never got, he wasn’t paid handsomely & claimed the he deserved to be in the main event of WrestleMania, which is why he felt miserable.” James responded, “Did you just read what you typed? He didn’t get to be in the main event so he got hot!!! C’mon man! I like Punk but dang.”

Ryback Reacts To CM Punk Calling Him A Roided-Up Dumb F*ck

After the fan again said it was Punk’s words, James remarked, “So if VKM or HHH did a podcast would you believe every word of those too?”

James continued, “When I quit and then got release papers, I dogged the company too. It’s what you do when you aren’t honest with yourself.”

The fan then remarked to James, “I’m not taking sides, but I wanna hear WWE’s response to what he said.” James responded, “Well you never will. The way everyone is reacting, I don’t believe it’s in the WWE’s best interest to give one.”

After it appeared both sides were going to have a stalemate until his contract expired, Punk recalled getting a text message from Triple H on June 11—two days before his wedding with AJ Lee. Punk told Hunter he was getting married and they could discuss the matter when he returned home from the honeymoon. Then, on the day of his wedding, Punk received a FedEx with termination papers. James addressed the topic to the fan, saying, “As far as release papers on his wedding day, wasn’t his wedding a secret? How did they know it was his wedding day?”

CM Punk Says WWE Banned Him, Another Top Superstar From Signing With UFC

James continued, “If he has no hard feelings why all the negative talk. He was “The Man” and that guy runs hard all year long. I’m done!”

James continued responding to the fan after the fan wrote, “& he wanted to know, why John Cena is the only one, that gets his “Make-A-Wish” showcased, when has had equal amount of grants.”

“I’m not sure that’s true. Like I said, I’m done. It’s he said she said stuff and it’s history. #HappyThanksgiving,” James wrote.

The exchange concluded after the fan says “Maybe he’s just a little salty, about not being the top guy anymore.” To this remark, James said, “Yep, maybe!”

James also responded to this fan question: “Why were vince and Hunter such jerks to cm punk?”

“A business relationship is between 2 or more people, you’ve now heard 1 side of the story,” James stated. “You’ll never hear the other. That’s his story. I can tell you some too if you’d like!”

During the interview, Punk was particularly critical of Chris Amann, WWE’s Senior Ringside Physician. Punk said Amann misdiagnosed and ignored a MRSA infection on his back for months and that the first doctor he went to after leaving WWE was stunned to hear that he wrestled with it. This doctor said he could have died from it. A fan asked James, “Why didn’t the wwe doctors treated his injuries right? Or even the @WWE?”

“Can’t even believe you just asked that! We have a trainer and a dr. Talent goes to doc of their choice! Dang,” James wrote.

WWE Issues Statement In Response To CM Punk’s Comments Ripping WWE Doctors

James again compared the situation to his own several years ago when he parted ways with WWE on bitter terms. A fan wrote, “@WWERoadDogg is bashing @CMPunk now. Coming from the hypocrite who trashed HHH on a shoot video a few years ago and now is up his ass.” James responded, “I did exactly what Punk did. I parted ways from the company and I bashed them. Call me what you will mate.”

James continued, “And if you call being friends with someone being “up their a**” then I guess you’re right. Not bashin Punk, just counter points.”

The fan then remarked, “There’s just a lot of us who hate what WWE has become. After hearing what Del Rio and Punk have said it’s not hard to see why.” James responded, “I understand your complaint and you’re definitely entitled to it. I don’t want to bash Punk but there is another side.”

Following all this, James stated to his Twitter followers, “Didn’t mean to argue and I’m sorry to those I offended. I’ll just keep quiet on this subject. I’m passionate about the business. I’m sorry.”

CM Punk talks about WWE firing him on his wedding day – details

During his 2-hour must-listen podcast interview with Colt Cabana, former WWE Superstar CM Punk reveals that The Shield faction was originally his idea.

Punk says WWE was discussing forming a new heel stable that would have him, Daniel Bryan, Big Show and Seth Rollins.

He had the idea to select three wrestlers from developmental who would be his “protectors.” Punk selected Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Kassius Ohno (Chris Hero).  Triple H shot down Hero, who was replaced by “their guy,” Roman Reigns.

Punk was very frustrated at the time and wasn’t going to “go to war” for Hero to be part of the faction. He understood that WWE had big plans for Roman Reigns, who would learn a lot working with Rollins and Ambrose.

Former WWE Superstar CM Punk has broken his silence on the circumstances that led to his WWE departure in a lengthy interview with Colt Cabana on the Art of Wrestling Podcast.

There is a tremendous amount of material covered in the 2-hour podcast and we highly recommend you listen to the podcast to hear everything from Punk himself. We’re covering Punk’s final days in WWE below – but the podcast covers three years of Punk’s WWE run, dating back to Money in the Bank 2011

After years of working through injuries and WWE’s “toxic” creative environment, Punk requested a meeting with Vince McMahon and Triple H at the 2014 Royal Rumble.

“I looked Vince in the eye and I said, ‘I do not love this anymore. I’m f—– sick, I’m f—— hurt, I’m f—— confused, I don’t know as a business what we’re doing anymore. Every day you tell me it’s a team effort, but every day it’s an individual effort by me to find what’s necessary to even f-n come here. It’s not fun. I have zero passion for this. I’m concussed, I’m hurt, and alls you care about is what segment I’m in and how soon I can get my gear on and how soon I can pee in this cup and I don’t want to do it anymore.’

“I mentioned something about the piss test and Hunter said, ‘Well, you know, Dave (Batista) just took the same piss test you did.’ And I just looked at Hunter and went, ‘Well, did you?’ And he had nothing to say. I said (to McMahon), ‘Look, I thought when I re-signed three years ago I told you if I couldn’t be all that I said I could be, you could f—– fire me. And, if I was a fraud and anything less and fell short of the f—— mark – I said, ‘I sold more shirts than John Cena until I turned heel for you. You said you owed me one. I worked guys that were dangerous and you said you owed me one. I did all these things and alls I wanted was the main event of WrestleMania. And it’s fine if you don’t think that is me and I’m not the caliber of that Superstar, but then you need to f—— fire me. Because I do not want to be here and I do not want to be anything else.’ And then I will go somewhere else and get over because I can.

“You have shackled me, you have creatively stifled me, you have made this a very toxic environment, I no longer want to be here. It boggles my mind how Daniel Bryan has not figured into your plans to be in the main event of WrestleMania because this is his year. Just like two years ago when it was my year and I was white f—– hot, just like he is now, and what did you do? You fed me to this guy.’ And I pointed to right at Hunter. Vince was like, ‘This is the concussion talking. I can’t believe you’re saying any of this. It is a main event – you’re wrestling Triple H.”

“I politely turned to Hunter and I said, ‘With all due respect, I do not need to wrestle you. You need to wrestle me. I do not want to wrestle you. I seriously resent you for not putting me over three years ago when you should have. That would have been best for business. But, you had to come in and squash it. And then I had to lose to Truth and Miz. It didn’t make any business sense and now I’m in the position where I can tell you I don’t have to nor do I want to wrestle you at WrestleMania. I don’t care if I was supposed to win – which I was – I didn’t want to give him the f—— privilege.

“I said a lot of s— in there. I told them again – and Hunter was gritting his teeth, and he never liked me. Me and him in a room together – it was always negative vibes.”

“Hunter told me I was in the main event because I wrestled The Undertaker,” Punk continued. “I turned to him and said, ‘Tell me I got paid the same amount of money as you, Brock, Cena, Rock, or whoever.’ And once again, he had nothing to say. I was like, ‘I’m out of here.’ Vince, with tears in his eyes, went in for a hug, and it was like a reluctant patting on the back, then I looked at Hunter and he stuck his hand out and I shook his hand. I said, ‘Goodbye,’ and I walked out.”

Punk said he had not officially quit the company at this point, which is “when the story got really good.”

Vince McMahon texted him a week later and asked if he was ready to return yet, a sign that Vince really was not getting the message.  Punk had been wrestling for months with a mass on his back that he says WWE doctors refused to properly diagnose. Punk went to a doctor that AJ Lee recommended who told him the mass was “a full-blown staph infection.”  When Punk told the doctor that he worked with the mass on his back for three months, Punk said the doctor told him: “You should be dead. You could have died.”

Punk said Vince contacted him to tell him he’s suspended for two months, with the suspension ending the day after WrestleMania. After the two month suspension was up, nobody from WWE contacted him. The next thing he heard about it was Vince McMahon telling investors that he was “on a sabbatical” and then his royalty checks stopped coming.

The royalty check issue was the “final straw” after all he had put up with. Punk recalled getting a text from Triple H on June 11, two days before his wedding to AJ Lee. Punk said he explained his situation to Hunter – he was getting married, going on his honeymoon and they could continue the discussion when he got back. On the day of his wedding, he received a FedEx package with his termination papers.

“I was fired on my wedding day,” Punk said. That pushed him over the edge, especially clauses in the letter saying he forfeits all royalties and WWE claims a breach of contract retro-active to January.

Punk hired one of the top lawyers in Los Angeles to deal with the matter. Punk said he cannot talk about the terms of the settlement, but he “got everything I wanted and more.” He said WWE owes him an apology for calling him a quitter in his home town of Chicago.

Punk said WWE was terrified of him going to TNA, but Punk’s lawyer told them that Punk “absolutely despises pro wrestling” and he’s “never going to wrestle again.”

“There is no working relationship, and there never will be ever again. That wedding day thing was pretty ridiculous”