CM Punk says he’s more ‘chill’ now, doesn’t really pitch WWE creative ideas

At this point in his career, CM Punk has adopted a more relaxed approach to the creative process.

Punk appeared as a guest on the latest episode of Pardon My Take, promoting WWE Wrestlepalooza in advance of the PLE being held this weekend. When asked how much say he has in his WWE storylines, Punk said he used to be more rebellious about this kind of thing but has now chilled out. He doesn’t really pitch things anymore. And when he does have ideas and suggestions, they’re usually for other people.

“I think there’s a little bit of magic that can happen, because, to me, there’s a lot of great minds that I work with. There’s a lot of people who have more experience than me,” Punk said. “And maybe back in the day I would say, ‘No, I know what to do.’ Now I’m more — I guess I’m just kind of chill now. Whereas before it was more rebellious. And now, to me there’s a magic about maybe taking something that you didn’t see or you didn’t think of — somebody else’s idea — and going, ‘Oh, you know what, yeah, okay, I can do that with this. And, hey, what if we did this?’

“I don’t really pitch things, and I’ve taken a page out of Cena’s book — they deal ’em, I play ’em. I have ideas and I have suggestions, and more often times now it’s for other people, not for me. And I just kind of roll with it.”

Punk has a big moment coming up on Saturday at Wrestlepalooza, where he’ll team with his wife AJ Lee in her return match. It’s the first time Lee has competed in more than a decade. They’re facing Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch in a mixed tag bout at the PLE.

Wrestlepalooza is taking place in Indianapolis and marks the start of a new era for WWE. The show, which has a start time of 7 p.m. Eastern, will be the first WWE PLE broadcast on ESPN’s new streaming service.