Randy Orton says he's glad that CM Punk is back in WWE.
CM Punk made his long-awaited return to WWE at Survivor Series 2023. Punk previously walked out of the company in 2014, and he returned to wrestling when he joined AEW in 2021. His turbulent run with AEW ended when the company released him following a backstage incident with Jack Perry at AEW All Out 2023. Punk's surprise return to WWE then electrified WWE fans at the end of the Survivor Series premium live event.
In a new video on WWE's YouTube channel, CM Punk and Randy Orton watched their match at WWE WrestleMania 27 together. At the end of the video, Punk noted that he felt like he earned Orton's respect in that match.
CM Punk: I put it like this to people because I’m a huge hockey guy. There’s guys you play against, and it’s always gonna be chippy. You might fight with them, you hate them, shit disturber, but then they get traded in free agency, and you’re going to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and all of a sudden he’s on your team, and it’s just like, I’m glad you’re on my team. That’s what that felt like to me.
Randy Orton: We’re good. Well, shit, I feel like I reached out. I forget what had happened, but I might have seen something online or whatever, maybe I knew you were leaving, and I think that minute I saw that, I reached out right away. This was before, I don’t know if you had already talked to people and were coming back or what, but this would have been last summer or last fall, I think when I knew for sure that you were leaving. I legitimately was like, He needs to come back, he needs to come back. This is where you belong. I think you reiterated that. You are like, ‘Yeah, you’re right, I need to come home. I’m glad you did, dude.
CP: I am, too. 100%.
RO: Hell yeah, man. Love yo, man. Give me a hug. [They hug] We’re buddies. We’re buddies.
CP: Now we’re the old buddies.
RO: Yeah, we’re the old buddies, we’re the old-timers. Let’s go lead this locker room.
CP: Let’s fucking do it.
Randy Orton previously said that he thought Triple H was messing with him when he told him about CM Punk's return. Click here to see what he had to say.
CM Punk recently predicted that Roman Reigns and The Rock would win at WrestleMania 40. Check out his comments here.
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