Regardless of how serious the personal issues between Vince McMahon and a particular WWE alumnus have escalated, history has shown that when the time is right, McMahon tends to put aside personal differences in an effort to do what is best for business. With every rule, there is always an exception, and the exception to this rule is reportedly CM Punk.
A new report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter claims that Vince McMahon has stated CM Punk is “the one man he just can’t do business with.” The report also states that nobody at a high-ranking executive level, including Paul Heyman who had a well-documented relationship with CM Punk in the past, has tried to sway McMahon in the opposite direction.
CM Punk returned to WWE programming on WWE Backstage in November 2019, but his deal is exclusive with Fox and not with WWE. Reportedly, WWE only agreed to this as to not rock the boat with their new partner as CM Punk was somebody that Fox really wanted on their show. It also said that even those within WWE that felt a punk appearance would be good at WrestleMania we're told that he devalued himself by appearing on Backstage first and the show seeing no rating spike.
CM Punk walked away from WWE in January of 2014 and entered into a lawsuit with WWE Dr. Chris Amann over comments Punk made about the doctor on an episode of Colt Cabana's podcast. Punk and Cabana won their lawsuit in June 2018.
Most recently, Punk stated he would open to wrestling again for WWE if the idea was creatively appealing to him, naming John Cena, Rey Mysterio, and Daniel Bryan as dream opponents. Learn more at this link.
