CM Punk recently spoke with Sports Illustrated to promote his fight with Mickey Gall at Saturday’s UFC 203 PPV event. Punk left the WWE after having a meeting with Vince McMahon and Triple H in January of 2014. Punk has stated in previous interviews that he would never go back to WWE. However, Punk told SI that he doesn’t rule out a return to pro wrestling with a company like New Japan Pro Wrestling.
“A long time ago I stopped saying ‘never,’ but that’s a loaded question,” Punk explained. “I don’t know the answer. No matter what I say, it’s going to take on a life of its own. When I started wrestling, I never wanted to go to WWE,” said Punk. “It was the Japanese life for me. I romanticized guys, like [Eddie] Guerrero, [Chris] Benoit, [Chris] Jericho, who went over there, and it just sounded like such an awesome life. You’d go over there for two, three, four weeks, and you come back, and nobody knows who the f— you are. I could go get ice cream with my sisters without being harassed, and that was always my style.”
Punk was asked about NXT and the talent that has been created in the developmental brand.
“I was the guy that championed all the guys in developmental. Whether people there want to admit it or not, I helped a lot of guys A, get hired, and B, get called up. It was because I knew they were good, so it wasn’t just because of what I said that got them to where they are. It was them, but I was one of the first guys to shed a light on that and say, ‘F— it, these are the guys that are good.’ When I was where these guys are, no one would do that for me. I really felt like I needed to be different from a lot of the top guys that were around when I got called up.”
Punk also talked about his training and more. You can read the entire interview here.
