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CM Punk took the wrestling world by storm by returning to wrestling for AEW this week after parting ways with WWE in 2014. Over the past seven years, fans have waited patiently for CM Punk to make his return to the wrestling ring.
In his first promo back in the wrestling ring, Punk took a shot at his WWE career and said that he left professional wrestling on August 13th, 2005 (the day he joined WWE).
While it looks like the AEW star is still bitter about his time in WWE and the way he left the company, he still seems to have a few friends on the promotion. At the same time, there are some WWE Superstars with whom CM Punk never saw eye to eye and disliked.
With that in mind, take a look at the three WWE Superstars CM Punk likes and three superstars he probably dislikes.
#6. AEW star CM Punk has had a lot of good things to say about WWE Superstar Brock Lesnar
At SummerSlam in 2013, CM Punk gave Brock Lesnar one of the longest singles matches of his WWE career. Punk and Lesnar competed for nearly half an hour in a No Disqualification match before The Beast put down The Best in the World.
ESPN interviewed several WWE personnel about Brock Lesnar last year, and CM Punk was one of the men who had many kind things to say about the former Universal Champion. Punk praised Lesnar’s work inside and outside the ring and claimed that he is a sweetheart.
“I don’t want to ruin his image. I think he’s a f—ckin’ sweetheart. This is a guy, when I got into MMA and I left wrestling, he was texting me, “Hey, if you need any help.” I’m always kind of a standoffish guy. It’s hard to open up and trust people in the pro-wrestling world. But he was never anything but a real sweetheart. It was a pleasure to work with him. He’s just a great guy, I think.”
“I think Brock has got a big heart, and that’s something a lot of people don’t talk about. They’ll talk about the freak strength and the crazy athletic things he’s done in his career, the accomplishments. But they don’t talk about the fact that he loves his wife, his kids, lives on a farm and just kind of wants to be left alone."
"All the fame and the money and everything is really just a side effect of being successful at what he wants to do. And he does what he wants when he wants. That’s the beauty of Brock Lesnar.”, said Punk.
CM Punk and Lesnar have also shared Paul Heyman as their manager during different times in WWE. It looks like The Second City Savior and The Beast are pretty close behind the scenes.
#5. Former WWE Champion The Miz has no idea why AEW star CM Punk dislikes him
The Miz and CM Punk had some good matches for the WWE Championship in 2012. Even though The Miz thought he was friends with The Best in the World, things took an unexpected turn in 2020.
CM Punk called out The Miz and told him to “go s*** a blood money covered d*** in Saudi Arabia”.
The Miz was questioned about his relationship with CM Punk during an interview on the 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast in 2020. The Most Must-See Superstar in WWE said he had no idea why CM Punk had so much hate against him.
“I have no idea, to be honest with you. I still to this day have no idea. To be honest, I thought we were friends. It’s just one of those things where you’re like, God man, I don’t know. I just don’t know. I really don’t. I wish I could answer any of the questions that you would have about that, but I honestly don’t know. I don’t get it. I don’t get him.”, said The Miz.
Punk has even taken a few more shots at The Miz while working for WWE Backstage. It is evident from his comments that he is not a big fan of the former WWE Champion.
#4. WWE Superstar Samoa Joe has labeled AEW star CM Punk as his brother
Samoa Joe and CM Punk teamed up for several matches outside WWE. The two also had the honor of facing each other in the ring before making their WWE debut.
The two men never crossed paths in the WWE ring. However, they have continued to have some fun on social media and talk highly about each other during interviews.
Helen Yee of Eyes on the Game caught up with The Samoan Submission Machine in 2017 and asked him what CM Punk thinks about his main roster debut. Joe confirmed that the two still stay in touch and are like brothers.
“Punk obviously he was here for a long time and he did pretty well for himself and has moved on to other things. When I came here I remember for years he was kind of championing my cause to be here in WWE and to see me now he’s kind of like, ‘Oh of course, the minute I’m not there you’re here now.’ Between me and him it’s always been an interesting relationship. We’re kind of like brothers that fight all the time. There’s never a dull moment when it comes to our conversation.”
Samoa Joe is back in WWE NXT while CM Punk recently made his AEW debut. It will be interesting to see if their paths cross in the wrestling world again.
#3. AEW star CM Punk and WWE Superstar Jeff Hardy seem to dislike each other due to their different lifestyles
Jeff Hardy and CM Punk had one of the most captivating rivalries for the WWE Championship in 2009. The two men gave some of their best performances to make the rivalry much better and more memorable for the WWE Universe.
During their epic rivalry, CM Punk cut the following promo regarding Hardy’s lifestyle.
“I wanna show you something, Jeff. This is Polymyxin B Sulfate. I have to apply this to my eye three times a day. The only way you obtain this is with a prescription from a doctor. Now, I know you know a thing or two about prescription medication. What I don’t think you realize is that you have to go to a doctor to legally obtain some. Unlike you, Jeff, this is the only foreign substance I will allow in my body. So, if you wanna imitate me, why don’t you try living a clean lifestyle? Why don’t you try living a straight-edge lifestyle?”
While WWE Superstars are used to having their personal lives dragged into storylines, things were never too good between Punk and Hardy. Both men live very different lifestyles, and that affected their relationship.
Hardy has also taken a shot at Punk's Straight Edge lifestyle in a video on YouTube.
The contents of the video show that the two men were never too close to each other. Hardy is probably one of the few WWE Superstars who CM Punk does not like.
#2. WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston was once bestfriends with AEW star CM Punk
CM Punk and Kofi Kingston spoke about their friendship many times during their WWE run. The two eventually teamed up together to become WWE World Tag Team Champions.
Even though Kingston and CM Punk traveled together and became great buddies, they fell after The Best in the World left the company. In an interview with Fightful in 2020, Kingston spoke about how he's grateful for the time he spent with Punk and still considers him his brother.
“As far as our relationship I have no sour grapes. A lot of people were I guess kind of mad that they got cut off, but that’s kind of where he was in his life. So you have to afford people that space to be where they feel like they need to be and that’s just part of life and personal growth."
"I’ll always be grateful for the time that we had and always consider him to be my brother, regardless of what happens from this point forward. I was glad to see him get the gig with FOX and kind of be back in the fold because to me it seemed like he had found something, like a sense of happiness. And that’s really all that I want for him is to be happy. So as long as he’s happy and enjoying life then I’m happy for him and I always will be.”, said Kingston.
The two still seem to be on the same page even though they might not be in touch with each other. Kofi is one of the few men who has always been praised by CM Punk and likes him behind the scenes.
#1. WWE COO Triple H and AEW star CM Punk seem to dislike each other
It’s no secret that Triple H and CM Punk never got on the same page in WWE. Punk had already taken a few shots at Triple H before he joined the promotion, and the two men had a few problems with each other while working together.
CM Punk sat down with Colt Cabana to talk about his exit from WWE in 2014. The Straight Edge wrestler noted that Triple H never liked him anyway.
“Triple H never liked me in the first place.”
On an episode of Jim Ross’s podcast Grilling JR focusing on CM Punk, JR recalled why Triple H did not like The Second City Savior as a wrestler:
“I remember someone saying, ‘Well, his a** is too big. His a** is too big, and it’s too soft.’ Wait a minute, where are we here? What are we doing? The crowd is telling you, this guy’s over. Our job is to put an a** every 18 inches in the stands! … [It was] Hunter. It was all about the workout s**t, man. Or how he looked in an 8×10 or whatever. He’s not gonna look the same because he’s not the same, and if all you’re gonna do is put out androids that all look alike, then what the hell do ya got? You’ve got no uniqueness. You’ve got no individuality. So that was the whole deal.”
CM Punk has also had some differences with Triple H’s wife, Stephanie McMahon. Punk never made his problems with The McMahon family a secret.
The Game did talk about trying to get in touch with CM Punk recently but did not know whether he would return to wrestling or not. Punk seems to have answered the question by making his debut for WWE’s rival brand in August 2021.
