Currently CM Punk is one of the top stars in WWE, but there were many years where fans wondered if a return would ever happen. Punk walked out of WWE in 2014 and ultimately returned to the company at the Survivor Series premium live event in November of 2023.
While talking about his long absence from WWE on the No Contest Wrestling podcast the current World Heavyweight Champion explained why he has no regrets about walking away.
“I’ll just go ahead and say it. Vince [McMahon] was still here. I don’t think anything was ever going to change, for me at least. So, no. Can I think about, ‘Man, that’s 10 years. I could have worked with AJ [Styles] a whole bunch. I could have done more with [John] Cena.’ I think I did pretty good. Tribal Chief says he graciously scaled back for two years. Well, I graciously stepped back for ten and it took him that long to become the superstar that he is. So, no. I got no regrets.”
Prior to his WWE return in 2023, CM Punk returned to the ring in AEW when he joined the company in 2021. Throughout his run with the company Punk managed to become a two time AEW World Champion, but ultimately things didn’t work out as Punk was fired following a backstage altercation with Jack Perry at All In.
In any case it seems that things have worked out well for CM Punk as it was recently confirmed that he will be main eventing WrestleMania for the second year in a row as he’s set to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 42 in April.