Ahead of his AEW return and the debut of a new weekly show called Collision on Saturday night, CM Punk opened up about several topics, including his relationship with The Elite, in an interview with ESPN on Friday.
Speaking to ESPN's Marc Raimondi, Punk expressed excitement over his return and his first match in over nine months, as he will team with FTR against Samoa Joe, Jay White and Juice Robinson in a six-man tag team match Saturday night.
Punk's last match was a win over Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship in the main event of All Out in September 2022 in his hometown of Chicago. Punk suffered a torn triceps in the match, however, and subsequently relinquished the title.
After the pay-per-view, Punk took part in an explosive media scrum alongside AEW president Tony Khan, and during the press conference Punk took aim at several of his colleagues, including Elite members "Hangman" Adam Page, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks, as well as former friend Colt Cabana.
Punk questioned the leadership of Omega and The Young Bucks, who are executive vice presidents in AEW, and once again took issue with Page for going off script during their rivalry leading up to Double or Nothing last spring.
Regarding the media scrum, Punk said he has regrets over how he handled himself, and he also divulged that he apologized to Khan for his actions:
"The first thing I said to Tony when I sat down with him and spoke to him after it was, 'Man, I'm really sorry I put you in that position.' I apologize for the scrum. But when you've watched that scrum, you're looking at a very, very frustrated guy who had told people. That's not the first time he heard all that. It's not the first time lawyers were told all that. And I was just looking for something to be done and nothing got done. So, if you want something done right, you got to do it yourself.
"And I just didn't approach it in the right manner, but tension was high. I was very, very pissed. I pretty much knew that I had just injured myself again. I was hurt, and I was disappointed. Yeah, it's very easy for me to say I regret that and I handled it the wrong way, 100 percent."
On the subject of Page, Punk said he wasn't a fan of Hangman suggesting in a promo that Punk was a hypocrite and not truly in favor of "workers' rights."
Punk implied that he was so taken aback by Page's comments that he couldn't properly focus on their match at Double or Nothing, leading to what he considered a subpar performance:
"And I proceed to have what I think is a garbage match because I'm trying to protect myself on stuff instead of actually just working and trying to put on the best performance I can. I'm keeping an eye out. He chopped me in the mouth one time, and I'm just like, 'OK, did you do that on purpose?' You chip my tooth, and I'm like, 'All right, should I give him a receipt?' It changes the dynamic. It poisoned everything for me, and it made it all really, really ugly, and that was what set all of this off, and here we are over a year later and ain't s--t been done about it."
Punk claimed that he has tried to bury the hatchet by sitting down with The Elite, but has been turned aside at every attempt. He added that he has gotten "messages from lawyers saying, 'Do not contact this person,'" although he isn't sure who is responsible for keeping him and The Elite apart.
At least initially, it appears as though Punk and The Elite will largely be kept apart with Punk being the face of Collision and The Elite being among the main draws on Dynamite.
Several up-and-coming stars will have a chance to shine on Collision alongside Punk, including Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs, and Punk said he is excited to see what they can do with increased exposure:
"With more TV time, you're only going to see guys like Hobbs and Starks, people who I think have the potential to do what an [AEW world champion] MJF has done with his television time but they haven't been able to be positioned because a guy like MJF gets a big lion share of television time, because he earned it. We just need to do a better job of spotlighting so many different guys, and this is, for a lot of guys, sink or swim. Now it's just like, well, now's the time. You're going to have to really bust your ass and prove why we're giving you this spotlight and this TV time."
The 44-year-old Punk was a five-time world champion in WWE, but after leaving on bad terms in early 2014, it was unclear if he would ever return to the world of pro wrestling.
Punk made his return to plenty of pomp and circumstance in 2021 with AEW, and he was quickly established as AEW's top draw and star.
Given his popularity among wrestling fans, it makes sense that AEW is giving it another shot with Punk, especially since there may be nobody else on the roster better suited to consistently bring attention to a weekly Saturday show than him.
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