CM Punk has recently revealed the two opponents he feels would be the most interesting to face in a potential return to the ring.
Punk, who stepped away from the squared circle over seven years ago, recently spoke with Uproxx to promote his new movie, Jakob’s Wife. During the course of the interview, the discussion turned to professional wrestling. Although Punk has stated in many interviews that his interest in returning to the likes of AEW or WWE are slim to none, he theorised what it may look like if he were to step into the ring:
“From a creative mind standpoint, stepping back and looking at the landscape of everything, there are people in WWE that I have wrestled before that maybe, in a certain situation could be interesting. There’s also the business side of things. What’s the biggest possible match for CM Punk? I think there’s Kenny Omega on the one side.
And, you know, unfortunately, ironically enough, for me to go back to WWE, who’s the biggest match for me? It’s probably Triple H. That’s ironic because it’s nothing I’m interested in. It’s just what it is. Am I going to be a businessman and say that’s the match, that’s the big-money match? Well, it’s not my money, so it’s not for me to say.”
During the peak of his popularity, CM Punk was arguably the biggest professional wrestler in the world. Heralded as ‘The Voice of the Voiceless’, CM Punk held the WWE Championship for a mammoth 434 days, after winning the gold in spectacular fashion at Money In The Bank 2011 in his home town of Chicago, IL.
Prior to a taping of Raw and following mounting frustrations and injures, CM Punk would walk away from the ring, never to return. Though Punk would become a feature of ‘WWE Backstage’, the former World Champion has never competed in a professional wrestling match since telling Vince McMahon and Triple H he was “going home”.
To this day, internet rumours continue to surface regarding a returning CM Punk. However, the professional wrestler turned actor and published author ultimately believes that the wrestling landscape has changed since his exit, and is capable of continuing without him:
“I think the right combination could maybe be figured out, but it’s also not for me to figure out. It’s not my world anymore. I’m certainly not Hulk Hogan. Where I’m going to show up somewhere and like, ‘no, this is how it’s going to be.’
The wrestling world doesn’t necessarily need CM Punk and that’s absolutely fine. Everyone seems to be doing great. I don’t know, it’s like flavours of ice cream. I walk into an ice cream shop one time and I’m like, ‘Oh, that seems like a good flavour. Give me two scoops of that.’ It’s just gotta be the right time, right place, right situation.”
Though many fans still hold out hope for a return to action for CM Punk, it seems the former ‘Best in the World’ is content at leaving the squared circle behind him. At least, for now.
Credit for Interview: Uproxx