CM Punk still has ‘so much more’ to accomplish in WWE
CM Punk feels like he still has a lot more to accomplish in WWE — especially behind the scenes.
The 47-year-old Punk has repeatedly said that he is not planning to retire from the ring any time soon. That remains the case, but he has shifted his perspective a bit to focusing more on just the in-ring aspect. Punk told the All the Smoke podcast that he thinks he can be the rare athlete who is both a good player and coach.
“So much more,” Punk responded when asked what he has left to accomplish. “So much more, because my perspective has changed drastically. You know, I think wrestling can be — I call it a sport. A lot of people don’t. Some people call it sports entertainment. Lately we’ve had this rash of people calling it ‘cinema,’ and it’s a little bit of everything, you know? But to me, it’s a sport.
“To me, there’s so much more about wrestling than just the in-ring stuff. Especially now, my perspective has changed. So, you know, we need brains behind the operation. We need coaches. We need people who are passionate about it and who are smart to the business. And sometimes the best wrestlers don’t become the best trainers or the best coaches, just like how the best players, I mean, [Michael] Jordan, Kobe [Bryant], you didn’t see these guys coaching. Everybody’s different. There’s different levels to everything. But then you have those players that maybe weren’t even the brightest players on the court, they make the best coaches, you know, they’re X’s and O’s guys. I think I’m one of those guys. I think I’m one of those rare guys that can be both.”
Punk said it’s important to him to treat younger wrestlers better than he was treated coming up in the business. He views everyone else in WWE as his teammates and wants them to succeed.
“That’s to me what is left for me to do in this business. A lot of it is giving back,” he said. “A lot of it is treating the young guys and girls that are coming up sometimes the exact opposite of the way I was treated. You know, old-school mentality and all that, a lot of the bullying and the hazing and all that stuff has gone away. And I think I was a big catalyst to sort of help that. Instead of trying to be like a hard-ass about everything, I was the one inviting people like, ‘No, no, you come here, sit here. If anybody messes with you, you let me know. We’ll handle it.’ Because at the end of the day, it’s a business. And, yes, it can be selfish. And it can be individualized. But these are my teammates. I want to see everybody succeed instead of just trying to make sure I succeed and I don’t care if everybody else fails.”
One difference Punk has seen in the younger generation is how open and enthusiastic they are about their wrestling fandom. Punk loved his mentor Harley Race, but they don’t have any individual pictures together because it would have been weird to ask for one back then.
Punk is WWE’s World Heavyweight Champion heading into WrestleMania 42, where he’ll defend the title against Roman Reigns this Sunday night.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.