CM Punk wants someone hungry to take his spot in WWE.
Punk returned to WWE at Survivor Series 2023, making a surprise return to close the show. Since making his return, Punk has feuded with both Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre in two memorable programs. He has also faced off with some young talent, as his first match back in WWE was a bout with Dominik Mysterio during the Christmas 2023 house show loop.
While speaking to Jackie Redmond in a recent interview, Punk was asked about balancing being a mentor while being successful in his own right.
"The air I operate in is pretty rare. Obviously, the guys I’m competing against, they’re not asking me for advice. They don’t care what I think, but there are other people who maybe do. There are other people who maybe ask because they think politically that’s the smart thing to do. My time, I used here pretty openly. I’m here to help people. The selfish aspect of it to is that I could talk to a 20-year-old track and field athlete from NXT and I’m looking for something I can learn. It’s a two way street. 46-year-old CM Punk doesn’t know what cool is, if he ever did. Maybe the kids can help me out with that. This business, you’re nothing without the people who paved the road prior to you. This isn’t a team sport. This is a very selfish business. I don’t like talking about myself because I wind up saying these wildly, what I feel, are egotistical things like I’m tired of pretending that half the locker room didn’t buy a pair of boots because they saw CM Punk wrestle. I also think it’s a very powerful responsibility to not be treated the way some veterans who I looked up to maybe treated me. It’s like learned behavior. Oh, I was treated this way and now I’m going to treat the next generation this way. I do the exact opposite and I try to kill that in its tracks. They treated me that way because they were maybe scared I was coming up and I was going to take their spot. I want somebody to be that hungry. I want somebody to take my spot. Old lions don’t die of old age. They die from the young lions. Eventually, that’s the way I think the book of CM Punk and the final chapter gets written. I just haven’t seen anybody that man enough to do it yet."
Punk competed in the 2025 Royal Rumble match, and was eliminated by Logan Paul.
Elsewhere in the same interview, CM Punk discussed his relationship with Paul Heyman. You can read more about here.
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