ESPN has a new article with quotes from several wrestlers including Scott Hall, Seth Rollins and Ryback sharing their thoughts on CM Punk’s UFC debut this weekend at UFC 203 against Mickey Gall.
Rollins explained that Punk was one of the first indie wrestlers to shake up the main roster in WWE and hopes that Punk is successful in his pro-MMA debut.
“He’s a guy who led the charge for a long time. He’s one of the first indie guys in a long, long time to really shake [up] the main roster in WWE and he paved the way for Daniel Bryan, for myself, Dean Ambrose, Cesaro, and those guys…Say what you will about his attitude and his relationship with the company right now, but I wish him the best and I hope that he is successful — win, lose or draw.”
Ryback, who has had a rocky relationship with Punk since their time in WWE, respects Punk for wanting to test himself and having the courage to fight professionally.
“From a basic human being standpoint, he is showing courage doing something the majority of people on this planet will never do and that is step in a cage and fight in front of millions of people. I respect he wants to test himself and has the courage to do so. For that reason alone, while I don’t condone him saying the things he said about me, I want to him do well. Any man can beat another man on any given night, so I just hope he achieves what he is looking for in this and I will leave it at that.”
Hall explained that fans tuned into UFC 200 in July to see Brock Lesnar fight and they will tune in again to watch Punk fight at UFC 203.
“I think people tune in to watch Brock win and I think they are going to tune in to watch Punk lose,” Hall told ESPN.com. “I think they employed that strategy in their marketing so if he does anything but get creamed I think he comes out OK. They are not building him up as a big hype or anything. They are taking the strategy like let’s wait and see. They even showed him training in the cage and all the others guys were kind of standing around yelling at him because it is kind of like, ‘Let’s see what you got.'”
You can read the entire article here.
